First Steps
by Nightfoot
Summary: In an effort to keep Kratos from leaving the planet, Lloyd talks him into telling the story of the first Chosen of Mana, Spiritua. This is that story.
1. It's Kind of a Long Story

I promised I'd post this in December, so here it is! Think of it as an early Christmas present.

* * *

**Chapter One: It's Kind of a Long Story…**

The wood of the balcony creaked as Lloyd shifted his weight, a concerned look on his face. He wasn't worried about the old wood giving way, though. After all, this house had stood sturdily for over seventeen years. Rather, his concern was centered on the fact that after everything they'd accomplished, he was still going to lose his dad.

It wasn't fair. Kratos shouldn't have to leave the planet. He'd worked so hard to help Lloyd and the others overthrow Mithos; it didn't seem right that he wouldn't get to stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Lloyd had had this argument with him already, though. In fact, he'd be willing to bet they'd had it upwards of ten times. No, by now Lloyd was resigned to this fate. But that didn't mean he had to like it.

The hinges creaked as the door leading to the balcony opened. "Are you still awake?" Kratos asked. "We need to get up quite early tomorrow morning."

"I know," Lloyd said, staring out at the familiar view. "I'm just thinking."

He heard footsteps approach and then Kratos appeared next to him, leaning on the same rough wooden railing. "You know I have to leave."

"Yeah," Lloyd grumbled, not deigning to look at him.

"It's for the good of the planet," Kratos said. "It has nothing to do with you."

"I know. We've talked about this."

Kratos sighed. "I know it doesn't seem fair. But now that the worlds have been re-joined and Cruxis overthrown, there is no place for me in this world. This was the future that you chose."

"And I don't regret it," Lloyd said, finally turning to look at his father. But now it was Kratos' turn to ignore him, his eyes locked on the horizon. Lloyd turned his head to follow his gaze. "The world is at peace now. We're no longer fighting over mana and people no longer live in fear of the Desians. I'm glad we did what we did, even if it does mean you have to leave." He sighed, resting his elbows on the railing. "Although… I can't help but wonder what might have happened if we had done things differently. After all, if it weren't for Marble, Genis and I would never have gone on the journey in the first place. I wonder how the worlds would have worked out then…"

"I'd imagine it would have worked out like a normal Journey of Regeneration. Colette would have been sacrificed and Sylvarant would be flourishing now. I think it's safe to say that in preparing for this journey, I had not thought to calculate someone like you into the run-of-the-mill journey. But I suppose a little shuffle in expectations can be welcome after four thousand years."

Lloyd ran his fingers over the railing, feeling the rough and bumpy texture through his gloves. "You talk like you go on Journeys of Regeneration all the time."

"I have gone on a great many of them," Kratos said. "Not every single one, of course. Yuan accompanied the Chosen sometimes, and sometimes it wasn't deemed necessary to send a protector."

"Do you remember any of the other Chosens?"

"Hm…" Kratos frowned slightly. "It's been four thousand years, Lloyd, I'm afraid it's difficult to… hm… I remember one. The first one I met. Yes, that one sticks out in my memory quite clearly."

"The first one?" Lloyd looked up at his father's face, which was still furrowed in concentration. "Which Chosen was that?"

"It was Spiritua," Kratos said. "Sylvarant's first Chosen of Mana. Things were different back then. It was the first one, so Mithos was still figuring out how he wanted to do things. That may be why I remember it so clearly – it wasn't the exact same protocol as every other journey."

"Really?" Lloyd asked. "Like what?"

Kratos finally turned his head to Lloyd. "Well, for one thing, she didn't know she was the Chosen until the day I arrived."

Lloyd's mouth hung open for a second. "What, really?"

Kratos nodded. "And she didn't receive nearly as much praise from civilians we encountered, due to the fact that in those days, Martelism was not the dominant religion of Sylvarant. It gained the strength it has today in part due to Spiritua's Journey."

"What was Spiritua like?" Lloyd asked next. "I always kind of pictured her as being a lot like Colette."

Kratos frowned. "Hm…. She was a very nice girl. I suppose she was similar to Colette in some ways… they had similar convictions and morals. But in other ways, she was very different."

"Tell me more," Lloyd said. "I want to know all about this journey.

Kratos smirked slightly. "Lloyd, it's rather a long story."

"That's ok," Lloyd said with a grin. An idea had crept into his mind, and though he hardly dared to hope that it would work, he decided to go for it. "I want to hear it. The _whole_ thing."

"We don't have time-"

"We're travelling to the Tower tomorrow, right? You can tell it on the way." And maybe, just maybe, he won't have time to have finished by the time they reach the Tower. And if he's half-way through the story, well, he could hardly leave Lloyd with a cliff-hanger for the rest of his life, right? Maybe Lloyd could get Kratos to stick around by convincing him to finish the story….

Kratos sighed. Maybe he felt guilty about leaving Lloyd behind, maybe he actually enjoyed the idea of telling his son one last story before they had to part forever, but for whatever reason, he gave in. "Alright. I'll tell you the story. I should warn you that there a many parts of it that I was not a personal witness to. The details were given to me at a point in time afterwards. Therefore, I cannot guarantee all the details are accurate, but I have reason to believe the teller was speaking the truth."

"Why?" Lloyd asked. "What did this guy do to make you trust him?"

"Because I knew him well," Kratos said. "And he had no reason to lie. Besides, the details he gave me matched up perfectly with what I did know."

Lloyd nodded sagely. "Ah, ok, I get it."

"Very well. I suppose I should begin. The story begins nearly four thousand years ago… it was almost one hundred years after the end of the Kharlan War. Sylvarant was not the same place that you know now. Martelism was barely off the ground and regarded as a cult by the majority of the population, and most people had been told stories by their grandparents about the mysterious country of Tethe'alla that vanished in one night. At the time, Sylvarant was under the boot of the Desians, but they still remembered the fallen Balacruf dynasty. More people prayed that an heir to the Balacruf throne would appear to defeat the Desians than a Chosen of Mana.

"And for me, it began in Welgaia…"

* * *

Kratos knocked on the door. When there was no answer for almost five minutes, he pounded on it once more, hard enough to almost hurt his fist. "Yuan!" he shouted at the closed metal door. "Stop playing with you silly toys and get out here! Mithos wants to see us!"

Kratos crossed his arms, glaring daggers into the door. After three minutes, he shouted, "For Origin's sake, Yuan! If you're not out here in one minute, I'll-"

"I'm coming!" Yuan's voice was still far away from the door, but at least now Kratos knew he had actually heard him. A minute later, the door slid open and Yuan rubbed his eyes. "What's the rush? Mithos said he didn't want to meet with us until ten."

"It _is_ ten," Kratos said. "Ten thirty, to be precise. When you didn't show up, Mithos sent me to fetch you."

Yuan dropped his hands and his eyes widened. He looked exhausted and his ponytail was a mess, but he put his shoes on as fast as possible and then followed Kratos into the hall.

"You've never been a morning person," Kratos said, "but I've never known you to oversleep like that."

"I didn't oversleep," Yuan mumbled, yawning into his hand. "I accidently pulled an all-nighter working out the bugs in that computer system I'm working on."

Kratos rolled his eyes. "Always fooling around with those toys of yours."

"They're not _toys_," Yuan said, pouting. "It's called a computer. You should see the things it can do. Mithos already got them installed in the ranches."

Kratos shook his head with a small smile. "What happened to you, Yuan? You've gone from a soldier to a nerd."

Yuan shrugged. "We haven't had a fight in almost a century. I suppose I just figured it was time to put my mastery of electricity to more productive uses than warfare."

"I just hope Mithos understands how important it was for you, considering you are now almost forty-five minutes late."

Yuan frowned as they turned the corner. The room the meeting was in was through a door at the end of the hall, which Yuan was eyeing with a bit of trepidation. "I don't like this. I shouldn't be worried about what Mithos thinks. He's just a little kid. He's almost my brother-in-law."

"Everything is different now."

"You can say that again," Yuan grumbled. "Ever since he fashioned himself that new body, he's been flying around like he owns the place… always was a bit of an obnoxious brat, but now he's just taking it too far."

"Quiet," Kratos said when they reached the door. "We can discuss this later."

The door opened to reveal Mithos in his Yggdrasill form, resting his chin on his hand as he tapped a pen on the table. "Yuan. Nice of you to show up."

Yuan grinned sheepishly. "Heh, sorry about that Mithos. I was _this_ close," he held up his thumb and forefinger to demonstrate just how close, "to making a breakthrough with my computer."

Mithos sat up straight. "I expect more punctuality from you in the future, Yuan. This organization has no room for slackers."

Kratos could see the war raging on Yuan's face as he sought to keep his expression neutral and subdue the glower. "Of course, Mithos," Yuan said through a forced grin. "I do apologize."

Mithos waved his hand. "Take a seat, you two. We've got important things to talk about."

Kratos pulled up a chair across the table from Mithos, while Yuan sat next to him. "So," Kratos said, folding his hands on the table, "what is it that you wanted to tell us?"

"Well," Mithos said, "I have decided that it's time to carry out the first Regeneration."

Yuan and Kratos stared at Mithos for a few seconds. Kratos kept his face stony, while Yuan looked confused.

"Now?" Yuan asked. "I thought we were going to wait another generation?"

"I was going to," Mithos said, "but then I decided that I think this girl might be able to do it. I thought we were getting close with her brother, but then when she came along… she's perfect. I just _know_ she'll be able to become Martel's vessel, and I don't know if I want to chance waiting for her child or grandchild with the hope that they'll be even better."

Kratos nodded slowly. "And you think the girl is ready to carry out the Regeneration now? Isn't she still just a child?"

Mithos looked down at the paper on his desk. "She just turned fifteen. I think she can handle it, though of course we won't send her alone."

"Will we be sending an entourage of angels, then?" Yuan asked.

"In a way," Mithos said. "But just one."

Mithos turned his eyes to Kratos and smiled. Kratos had a sinking feeling he knew where this was going. "Oh, no," Kratos said. "No. You are _not_ going to send me."

"This is your next assignment, Kratos," Mithos said. "It just may be your most important one yet."

"No," Kratos said. "I'm a soldier, not a babysitter. Besides, I'm not good with kids."

Yuan shrugged. "I don't know, you seemed to put up with Mithos well enough." He snapped his mouth shut and lost the coy smile as both Mithos and Kratos gave him death glares. "Or… you know… not that that's a good example… because Mithos was always so mature, of course…"

Mithos stared at Yuan for a few more seconds before turning his gaze back to Kratos. "These are you orders, Kratos. You are to escort the Chosen to the four seals and aid her in defeating the monsters. Don't do _all_ the work, of course, because she can't release the mana if she doesn't even participate in the fight."

Kratos groaned inwardly and hung his head slightly. "Very well. I understand."

"I'm putting my faith in you, Kratos," Mithos said. "Do not disappoint me. You can leave this afternoon."

* * *

"Really, it's only fair," Yuan said a couple of hours later as they walked down the hall to the warp. "After all, I went to the last Chosen."

Kratos snorted. "These situations hardly compare. All you did was inform the Tethe'allan Chosen of her identity before sending her off to spread the religion. You were home in time for dinner."

"Well, it's not like I don't have an assignment, too."

"I don't understand, Yuan. Why does Mithos keep giving _you_ the easier tasks? You're the one who was sleeping with his beloved sister. By all rights he should hate you."

Yuan gave him a deadpan glare, then said, "I'll do the next one, ok?" They reached the warp that would send Kratos down to the altar of the Tower. Yuan passed Kratos his bag and said, "this will be a piece of cake; you'll see. You'll be back before you know it."

"I sure hope so," Kratos said.

"And Kratos…" Yuan hesitated, then smiled grimly. "Be careful. It's a dangerous world, after all."

Kratos returned the dark smile. "Weren't we supposed to have saved it already?"

He heard the chirp of a bird, and looked up just as a small white and green bird landed on his shoulder. "Well, looks like you won't have to worry about me, Yuan. It would appear Noishe is coming along to protect me." The bird, which was about the size of canary, twittered in agreement.

Kratos stepped onto the warp –

* * *

"-Wait, Noishe was a canary?"

Kratos paused, then turned his head. He'd been staring out at the dark forest as he talked, and now turned to face Lloyd's surprised expression. "Yes. I thought you were aware that Noishe, as a Protozoan, has gone through many forms over the years?"

"Well, yeah," Lloyd said, looking over at the roof of the little stable where Noishe was currently sleeping. "But I always thought his bird form would be more like… you know, a great big eagle or something."

"I apologize for breaking the truth to you. Now, do you want me to continue or would you like to interrupt again?'

Lloyd looked down at the floorboards. "Er, no, sorry. Go on."

"As I was saying, I took the warp down to the main altar of the Tower of Salvation."

* * *

Kratos looked around the eerie space of the Tower and slung his brown leather bag over his shoulder. The Tower was quite large, and it felt odd being the only living thing in this entire vast space. He hurried across the altar to the next warp so he could move on from this weirdness.

After just a few minutes, he emerged outside on the steps of the Tower. The Tower wasn't visible, of course. It felt kind of strange to emerge from a building that vanished the moment the door closed behind him. He looked up to the sun; it was just barely past noon. If he pulled out his wings, he'd probably be able to reach his destination by nightfall. Maybe once the girl got wings they could just fly between seals to expedite the process.

In any case, he pulled out his wings and took off. He flew north, letting himself enjoy the few pleasures he could get out of this hassle of a mission. He'd been up in Welgaia for so long he'd almost forgotten how good the wind racing through his hair felt. Noishe seemed to enjoy the freedom of the open skies even more than he did, and flew in circles around him. Kratos was almost sad when he saw orange light of the dying sun glimmering on the surface of Lake Sinoa.

Kratos landed outside of Luin, then took a bridge into town, Noishe now perched on his shoulder. It was a bustling little village, and at this time of night the docks were crowded with fishing boats coming in with the day's haul. As he passed these docks, Kratos cursed the heightened senses that came with being an angel. The overwhelming stench of raw fish had been quite hard enough to handle as a human.

He soon found himself in front of the Church of Martel. It was a small building off the beaten track, and looked nearly deserted at this time of night. No one walking by gave it any notice at all, and if it weren't for the sign out front he wouldn't have known it was a church at all.

It was certainly an old building, Kratos thought as he walked through the front door. The door was so old its hinges cried out for release and Kratos was almost afraid he'd accidently rip the damn thing right out of its frame. The main room was filled with a few rows of benches and a wooden podium at the front, behind which was a wooden statue of an angel. It had once been painted, but over the years the paint had chipped away to almost nothing.

Kratos' footsteps echoed in the empty room as he looked around. There had probably been a service this morning, but he didn't know if there were even any priests in the building at this time of night.

He got his answer when a door in the back opened and a short man poked his head out. "Hello? I'm sorry, sir, all the other priests have gone home for the night. We would be more than happy to speak to you about Martel tomorrow, though."

Kratos quickly covered the distance to the man and stood before him. The top of the man's head barely reached Kratos' shoulders. "I'm not searching for salvation," Kratos said. "I'm looking for a girl."

The man stared up at him and crinkled his eyebrows, his eyes darting between Kratos' face and the little bird on his shoulder. "A girl? For, er, what purposes? We do, actually, consider ourselves a _holy_ establishment. You may want to head down to the docks to find the, ahem, 'seamstresses'…"

Kratos sighed and buried his face in his hand for a moment. "No, you don't understand. I'm looking for a _specific _girl. A child."

The man's face paled and his eyebrows shot up as if in an effort to catch up with his receding hairline. "I – I see. I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot in good faith direct you to where you may find _that_."

"No!" Kratos' stomach clenched uncomfortably for a moment as his mind considered the implications of the man's misunderstanding. "You don't understand. My name is Kratos Aurion. I am an emissary from Cruxis, and I am here to announce the identity of the Chosen One."

The man's eye's went wide with shock once more, but rather than being mixed with horror, this time it was joined by awe. "The Ch-Chosen?"

"Yes," Kratos said, glad to finally be understood. "Now tell me: is there a girl by the name of Spiritua Praetor in your congregation?"

The man blinked. "Spirit? Why, yes, but surely she couldn't be the Chosen?"

"In fact she is. Can you arrange a meeting for me with her?"

"Of course, my lord! She will be here tomorrow morning for the weekly service. If you like, you can see her afterwards."

Kratos nodded. "Yes, thank you. Now, can I ask if there is a room available for me to spend the night?"

The man's head bobbed up and down. "Yes, yes, of course, my lord! Just follow me and I'll show you to our guest room…"

* * *

Behind the main room of worship were a few offices and spare rooms. The next morning, Kratos sat at a table in one of these offices, waiting for his meeting with Spiritua. The service was just ending now, so she should be here soon. When she did arrive, he'd have the task of explaining to a fifteen year old girl that it was her duty to the world to sacrifice herself.

Kratos crossed his arms and leaned back in the chair. He had no idea what kind of person Spiritua was or if she'd be at all willing to go through with this. How would he have reacted if he'd been given this news at fifteen? He tried to think back, but already his teenage years were nothing but a vague memory. What would he do if she wasn't willing to go along with it? Would he have to kidnap the poor kid and forcefully drag her from seal to seal? Ugh, and Mithos had said this was supposed to be an easy job.

There was a knock at the door, and then it slowly opened a cracked. "Sir?" said a young voice hardly above a whisper. "Y-you wished to meet me?"

Kratos quickly sat up straight. "I'm assuming you are Miss Praetor?"

The door opened wider, admitting a girl who looked younger than her supposed fifteen years. Maybe it was because Kratos had been in Welgaia for too long and misremembered how teenagers looked, or maybe it was the way she stood with her feet close together, clutching her arms and staring at him with wide blue eyes that made her look like a small child afraid of being reprimanded. She nodded once.

Kratos gestured to the empty seat across from him and said, "Please, take a seat."

Spiritua carefully closed the door and walked over to the chair. When she was seated, she twirled her long brown hair around her fingers and kept her eyes on the table. Noishe, perched on the other side of the table, cocked his head to the side and peered at her with his beady black eyes.

"Before I begin," Kratos said as he eyed the girl, trying to judge her character, "I should assure you that you aren't in trouble. Did any of the priests tell you what this meeting was about?"

Spiritua raised her eyes to meet his as she shook her head.

"Then I suppose I should begin explaining. Are you familiar with this verse? 'Once upon a time, there was a giant tree that was the source of all mana…'"

Spiritua nodded slowly as confusion crossed her face. "I know it."

"Tell me, Spiritua, do you notice any problems with it?"

Her confusion grew deeper and she gave him a questioning look.

"Perhaps," Kratos said, "that the angels have not yet born the Chosen One?"

"He's coming soon," Spiritua said softly, her confusion replaced with conviction. She seemed to have come to conclusion that perhaps Kratos were here to test her faith.

"Don't you think it's time," he asked, "for the angels to bear the Chosen?"

"That… would be nice," she said, watching him closely. "The angels will come when the time is right."

Kratos nodded, then stood up and closed his eyes for a second. His wings slid out of his back, casting glittering blue light on Spiritua's stunned face. "My name is Kratos Aurion. I am an angel of Cruxis, sent forth to guide the Chosen on her journey."

Spiritua's eyes widened and her mouth hung open slightly.

"On _your_ journey."

Her jaw dropped even farther but no words came to her.

"You are the Chosen One, Spiritua."

She finally reacted, by shaking her head. "No," she said in a voice barely above a whisper. "This is… a mistake."

"I assure you that it isn't. You must accept your destiny, Spiritua. You will regenerate Sylvarant and save it from destruction." He pulled his wings in and sat down again. "Do you understand?"

Spiritua was ashen-faced as she stared at the table. Her hands were trembling. "…Yes. O-of course… I humbly accept this honour. What… what must I do?" She raised her head and gave him a questioning look.

"In order to regenerate the world," Kratos said, "you must break four seals around the world. After your break all four seals, you will proceed to the Tower of Salvation, whereupon…" he stared at her. She was a child, really. Small and nervous and not even confident in herself as a Chosen. He had no idea if she was up to knowing the truth about her fate, and it would be better not to risk it. "…whereupon you will become an angel in full, and the world will be saved."

"I understand."

"I will accompany you on this journey. I will protect you from the dangers you may face on the road and aid you in breaking the seals. You have nothing to fear."

"When… when must I leave?"

"Tomorrow," Kratos said. "There is no reason to stick around while the world is still decaying. After we leave here today, we must go to the old church outside of town where you will officially accept your task and be given your Cruxis Crystal. Are you ready to go?"

She nodded, and Kratos stood up. "Follow me." He strode quickly across the room, pausing at the door to wait for Spiritua and her smaller steps to catch up with him. He hesitated, wondering if maybe he was rushing. She had, after all, just received quite the shock, so maybe it would be better to give her some time to fully accept her new role and come to terms with her responsibility. But then he thought about having to spend a week or so waiting around in Luin with the smell of fish. He just wanted to get this job done as fast as possible; Spiritua could handle a bit of rushing.

As they walked down the aisle of the main room, Kratos overheard the whispers of the priests as they watched the pair. The word 'Chosen' fluttered about the room, never in a voice above a whisper, but managing to reach every priest in the building nonetheless. Kratos looked down at Spiritua and could tell that she heard the whispering, too. She tried to keep her expression neutral, but the way her eyes kept darting to the priests as she frowned gave away her discomfort.

Spiritua seemed relieved when the left the church and started walking down the street. In the bustle of villagers going about their lives, no one stopped to stare at her. After all, outside the church, no one knew she was anything other than just another girl.

Curiously, Spiritua didn't seem to want to talk to Kratos about her new role as the Chosen. This surprised Kratos, since he'd figured she'd be full of questions and desperate for answers about her role and requirements. But Spiritua seemed content at staring at the ground and followed wordlessly behind him.

In fact, he didn't get a reaction of any sort from her until they reached the bridge on the edge of town. They were about to cross when a new voice shouted, "Oi! Spirit!"

Both of them turned to see a young man hurrying towards them, a cross look on his face. Kratos sighed, wondering what distraction was charging towards them now.

* * *

"It's getting pretty late."

"Huh?" Lloyd looked up at the moon, which had fully risen now and was high in the sky. He'd been listening with such rapture he had hardly even noticed the passage of time.

"You should go to bed," Kratos said. "We have to get up early tomorrow."

"But wait! What about the story? What happens with Spiritua? Who was that guy at the end?"

"That person was someone who seemed to make it his personal goal to make my life complicated for the next few months. Now go to bed; I'll continue the story tomorrow once we hit the road."

"But – but Dad! Come on, keep going! Please?"

Kratos hesitated, and Lloyd waited with bated breath to see if dropping the 'Dad' word would convince Kratos to be more charitable.

"You need to get some sleep, Lloyd. Go on."

Damn, the word had backfired and only succeeded in reminding Kratos that as his father, it was his responsibility to make sure his kid got some sleep.

"Fine," Lloyd grumbled, slumping his shoulders and turning to the door. When he reached the doorway, he looked back to say, "But you'd better continue with the story tomorrow!"

Kratos nodded. "I'll tell you as we walk tomorrow."

"Alright. Goodnight, Dad."

"Goodnight, Lloyd."

The door closed and Lloyd was embraced by the warmth of his room after the cool night air outside. As he settled into bed, ideas for keeping Kratos around ran through his head. He hoped this story about Spiritua was good and long, because so far it was his best bet at keeping Kratos on the planet for as long as possible.


	2. Rowan

**Chapter Two: Rowan**

"…and then he ended by saying some new guy had appeared and that this guy made things complicated," Lloyd said the next morning as they walked along the path.

Colette nodded. "Ok, I see! Thank you, Lloyd!"

Lloyd grinned. "Well, I couldn't let you jump into this story with no idea what was going on."

Ahead of them, Kratos walked silently. He hadn't commented at all during Lloyd's summary of events, which Lloyd took to mean that his description was accurate enough and didn't need to be corrected.

Although, it could also be that Kratos was irritated that Lloyd refused to fly. Kratos had been hoping that the three of them could fly to the Tower so he could leave, and then Lloyd and Colette could head out on their Exsphere-collecting journey. But Lloyd had decided he wanted to walk, claiming he didn't feel comfortable using his wings. Walking would take much longer than flying, increasing the amount of time Kratos would have to spend on the planet.

"Come on, Dad," Lloyd said. "Continue the story. You promised you would." They had, after all, left Iselia over an hour ago. They were walking through wide open fields, following a narrow dirt road southwest. Lloyd was very turned around in his geography since the worlds combined, but Kratos promised that he knew his way around and knew how to get to the Tower.

"Very well."

Lloyd and Colette quickened their pace to walk on either side of Kratos so that they could hear him properly.

"As I was saying last night, we were about to cross the bridge as a boy – he was a couple years older than you, Lloyd – came running up to us…"

* * *

Spiritua's face broke into a smile as the boy approached. He had reddish hair and sun-tanned skin, and if you looked past the suspicious scowl you could tell he had the same blue eyes as Spiritua.

"Who're you?" he demanded when he reached them, crossing his arms and standing boldly before him. He was a bit shorter than Kratos, but tried to meet his eyes regardless.

"My name is Kratos Aurion," he said. "And who, may I ask, are you?"

"Rowan," he said. "And I don't care what your name is – you're mad if you think I'm gonna let my little sister wander off with some strange guy."

"We don't have time to argue with you. As I just explained to Spiritua, your sister is the Chosen of Mana. We are on our way to accept the oracle so she can begin her journey."

Rowan's glare narrowed. "_What_ journey?"

"The Journey of Regeneration," Kratos said, glancing at Spiritua and wondering why she wasn't jumping in to help him explain. It was her brother, after all. "Spiritua needs to unlock four seals in order to regenerate the world."

"So you're telling me that you, a complete stranger with weird hair and a funny looking bird, are going to take my little sister away on some weird journey in the name of Martel?"

Kratos glanced upwards for a second at his bangs. His hair wasn't _that_ weird, was it? "That is correct."

Rowan snorted. "Here's some news for you: no, you're not." Rowan reached out and grabbed Spiritua's arm. "Come on, Spirit. We're going home."

"Rowan," Spiritua said softly as she pulled her arm away.

Rowan stared at her, then looked to Kratos, and then back to her. "Oh, come _on_! Don't tell me you actually believe him!"

Spiritua glared at him. Kratos stood back a bit to let the siblings work this out. "He has wings."

Rowan's gaze lingered on Spiritua's defiant expression for a few seconds. "Wings, eh?" He raised his head to scrutinize Kratos. "That doesn't mean he's an angel. Looks like he has magic, then? He's probably a half-elf." Rowan wrinkled his nose at the word. "This is even more of a reason to not let you go with him."

"Rowan!"

Kratos was almost surprised when she raised her voice. He'd been beginning to wonder if the girl even knew how to sound angry.

"Dammit, Spirit!" Rowan clenched his fists. "I never had a problem with this Martel thing, but now you're putting yourself in danger because of it. I'm not going to let you get hurt."

She stared at him, and Rowan met her gaze. He scowled, then raised an eyebrow questioningly. Spiritua nodded so slightly Kratos barely even noticed her head twitch. Then Rowan rolled his eyes with a sigh and nodded. Spiritua smiled warmly, then turned to Kratos.

Rowan said, "Let's go."

Kratos looked between the two, wondering if there was some undocumented form of telepathy going on here. All he said, though, was, "'Let's'? Are you accompanying us?"

Rowan nodded. "It's not like I can let Spirit go by herself. Where are we going, anyways?"

Kratos began walking across the bridge. "To the old church."

"The one that burned down?"

"Yes."

"Rather sketchy, don't you think?"

Kratos sighed. "It was deemed the most suitable place, being a holy location that is guaranteed to be deserted."

Rowan snorted. "Right. Holy."

Kratos looked over at him. "You don't believe in Martel, do you?"

Spiritua blushed a bit and looked away, embarrassed by her brother's lack of faith in front of the angel. Rowan just smirked. "Believe in some all-powerful goddess that has never done anything help her supposed people? Nope. I'm not going to waste my time praying to some lady in the sky to fix my problems when I can get out and do something about them myself."

"Hm," Kratos said. They were walking along the river now, the old church coming into sight just ahead. "Some would say that belief is what gives them the strength to take care of themselves."

"Feh. If so, they're weak. Look, if you really are an angel from Martel – which I still doubt, by the way – why don't you go ask her what she's been doing all these years while we suffer? I believe in the Summon Spirits. At least they never made any promises about salvation that they can't keep."

Spiritua reached up and gently touched his arm. Rowan turned his head and she gave him a look.

Rowan sighed and muttered, "Sorry."

"Let's head in," Kratos said when they reached the church. It was a small building overgrown with weeds, and they were able to walk right in since the door was long gone. Inside, it resembled the newer church in town, though the main room lacked the rows of benches and the angel statue was blackened and charred. Light filtered in through the partially destroyed wall on the left, though the main structure of the building was made of stone, so it hadn't completely burned away.

Kratos led the kids to a spiral staircase in the corner and headed up the stone steps. Their footsteps echoed in the small stairwell until they came out in the small office at the top. There was an altar on the floor, which immediately caught Spiritua's attention.

She frowned as she stared at it, then looked up at Rowan, who said, "That hasn't always been there, has it?"

Kratos shook his head. "No, it was added recently for our purpose. Spiritua, step up to the altar."

Spiritua nodded, and Rowan started to follow her. "You stay back," Kratos snapped, getting annoyed by the boy already.

Rowan gave Kratos a snide look but reluctantly stood next to him and watched Spiritua stand before the altar. Within seconds, a beam of light shot up from it and a human form materialized in the air before her. Kratos glanced at Rowan, who was staring with wide-eyed amazement at the newcomer. For someone who didn't believe in Martel, it must be pretty shocking to see Yuan hovering in place with outspread pinkish-purple wings.

Rowan looked like he was about to speak, but Kratos glared at him and held his finger to his lips. Rowan nodded and turned back to Spiritua.

"Greetings," Yuan said, his dark cape fluttering around his feet as he floated in mid-air. "I am Yuan Ka-Fai, an angel of judgement. I'm here to guide you, Spiritua, on your Journey of Regeneration."

"Hang on," Rowan said, "I thought Kratos was supposed to be the guide. Can't you guys even get your story straight?"

Yuan looked up from Spiritua, who glanced back at her brother in embarrassment. Yuan gave Rowan a dry look and said, "I wouldn't try to pick holes in something you don't understand at all. Now be quiet and let me finish."

Rowan glowered at him, but Yuan ignored him. "As I was saying, Spiritua, I am here to guide you on your journey as the first Chosen of Mana. At long last, it is time to awaken the Goddess Martel, who is… sleeping."

The two children wouldn't have noticed it, but Kratos had known Yuan for a long time and the way his voice wavered ever so slightly at the end was quite obvious to him. Kratos couldn't blame him; he'd felt a tiny waver of grief at the words too. It had already been a hundred years, but calling up the memories of their dear friend's death always hurt.

Yuan had spaced out for a couple seconds before catching himself and reaching into his pocket. He held out his hand and a glowing red orb floated towards Spiritua. "This is your Cruxis Crystal, a sacred orb that marks you unquestionably as the Chosen."

Spiritua stared at the orb as it approached, and Kratos had to grab Rowan's arm as the boy immediately started running forward.

"What the hell is that thing?" Rowan demanded, trying to pull away from Kratos' strong grip.

"It's not going to hurt her." Kratos knew it was a lie the moment it came out of his mouth, but it was at least partially true. It wouldn't burst into flame and kill her on the spot, like Rowan obviously feared.

The gem made contact with the exposed flesh of Spiritua's chest, and she was consumed in a small burst of light. When the light died down, she reached up with one hand and gently fingered the new object embedded in her flesh. Kratos wondered what shape the Key Crest had taken, but she was still standing with her back to him.

"From now on," Yuan said, "you are the Chosen of Regeneration. Cruxis blesses this event, and we bestow the Tower of Salvation upon the land." Yuan raised his hand and gestured to the left, and everyone's head turned to see the supposed Tower. Unfortunately, there was a wall in the way.

"Er…" Yuan frowned. "It's there. Honest. You'll see it when you go outside."

Rowan cocked an eyebrow. "Riiiight."

"Ahem." Yuan tried to regain control of the situation. "Spiritua, Cruxis shall grant you the power of the angels with each seal you unlock. Once you are fully reborn as an angel, this crumbling world will be reborn. Are you prepared for your task?"

Spiritua nodded once, firmly. Yuan paused, looking like he was waiting for her to say something, but when she didn't he said, "Very good. Then I shall see you at the Seal of Light. Good luck."

Kratos finally joined the conversation. "Chosen, you and your brother should head home. I was given your address by the church-"

"-You stalker!"

"Do not interrupt me, Mr. Praetor. I was given your address by the church, so I will meet you there shortly."

Spiritua turned around, finally giving Kratos a view of the teardrop-shaped Key Crest fused to her chest, with a red Cruxis Crystal gleaming even in the dim light of the church. Rowan gasped when he saw it.

"What the hell is that?"

"I _told_ you," Yuan said, rolling his eyes. "It's a Cruxis Crystal. I don't know why I bother explaining things to people if they don't listen…"

"It's not hurting you, is it, Spirit?"

She shook her head.

"Well… if you're sure."

"As I was saying," Kratos cut in, "the two of you should head on home. I will come to your house tonight to discuss the journey with your parents."

Spiritua nodded and crossed the room to the stairs. Rowan gave Yuan and Kratos one last suspicious look, then followed his sister down the stairs.

When they were gone, Yuan's wings disappeared and he dropped to the ground and sat down on the altar. "Man, that girl never shuts up, does she?"

Kratos walked over and sat down next to him.

"In all seriousness, though, how are you? Did you have any problems picking the girl up?"

"No," Kratos said. "She seems to be very receptive of this new turn of events. It doesn't look like we're going to have any problems convincing her to go on the journey."

"Her brother doesn't seem too happy about it."

Kratos shrugged. "He's just her brother. He's not her guardian. And if her parents end up sharing his sentiments, we'll just runaway."

Yuan raised his eyebrows. "Surely you aren't suggesting that you're going to kidnap a little girl, Kratos?"

"It's not kidnapping if she comes with me willingly."

They sat in silence for a few seconds. After a little while, Yuan said, "So… that little girl is supposed to become the new Martel?"

Kratos sighed. "That is Mithos' plan, yes."

Yuan frowned and put his chin down on his fists. "It won't be the same. Even if it does work."

"No. It won't be."

"Do you think this is what she would have really wanted?"

Kratos didn't answer, keeping his face completely masked of emotion as he stared at the floorboards. Honestly, he didn't know what Martel would have wanted. She had been his friend, certainly, but Mithos and Yuan had always known her best. He'd never thought to doubt Mithos on interpreting Martel's wishes.

Deciding he would rather move on from this conversation, Kratos changed the subject. "I haven't told the girl that she is going to die."

Yuan looked over. "Isn't that kind of important?"

"I will. But when you see her, don't mention it, in case I haven't told her yet."

"When are you planning on telling her?"

"I don't know," Kratos said. "I'll wait until I can tell the time is right. At this point I don't know her well enough to be sure she won't get cold feet and refuse to go through with it."

Yuan nodded. "Understandable." He stood and stretched, arching his back for a moment. "I should probably get going. I have things to do back in Welgaia."

Kratos stood as well and nodded in farewell. "Inform Mithos that so far the mission is going smoothly."

"Alright. See you at the Tower of Mana." He stepped back on the altar and a beam of light teleported him away.

"Come on, Noishe," Kratos said to the bird flying around the rafters. "Let's head back to Luin and purchase come supplies before the journey."

* * *

"And just what is so funny, Lloyd?" Kratos said.

Lloyd shrugged as his grin finally faded. "Ha, I don't know, just the idea of Yuan being Remiel. It's hard to imagine."

"Remiel wasn't even born yet at the time."

"Yeah, I know," Lloyd said.

"I think Yuan would be very good at that," Colette said. "Remiel wasn't very nice. I bet Yuan would be much nicer to Chosens." She paused, frowned, and added, "Well, at least before he decided to try and kill the Chosen, that is."

Lloyd laughed and nodded.

Colette looked up at Kratos and said, "When did Yuan stop going along with Mithos? Was he already forming the Renegades by Spiritua's time?"

Kratos shook his head. "No, not yet. It took a couple centuries for him to finally get fed up with Mithos' goals, and a few years after that to begin actively trying to subvert them."

"And what about Noishe?" Lloyd asked. "When did he become a dog?"

Kratos frowned. It took a few seconds of thought before he answered. "I'm afraid I can't remember precisely. It was a couple thousand years ago."

"Did you ever know him as a fish?" Lloyd asked.

Colette giggled. "Heh-heh, it's funny picturing Noishe as a fish. I bet he'd be a really pretty koi."

"Or maybe a shark!" Lloyd said. He looked up at Kratos expectantly, hoping Kratos would give them confirmation on Noishe's fish form.

"I don't know," Kratos said, looking down. "I met him as a bird during the Kharlan War. Now, this next part of the story is the first part that I didn't observe directly. After I stayed behind with Yuan, Rowan and Spiritua began walking home."

* * *

"What the hell is that?"

"The Tower of Salvation."

Rowan couldn't take his eyes off the sky-high pillar jutting up from the south. It defied all logic. Where did it come from? It must be an illusion. There was no way that was real. If it were real, it would mean this whole angel business was true too, and that was impossible. Those 'angels'… Rowan wanted to punch them.

"I don't like those guys," Rowan grumbled, clenching his fists in the pockets of his jacket. "And what was with those sparkly wings that guy had? Pretty fishy, I think."

"He's an angel," Spirit said. "All angels have wings."

Rowan frowned. Angels didn't exist, but he didn't want to argue with Spirit about this right now. More likely, all that sparkly magic was due to them being half-elves. And as everybody knew, half-elves were Desians and weren't to be trusted.

"I wonder where the seals are," Spirit said softly.

"Doesn't matter," Rowan said. "There's no way you're going."

Spirit shot her head up to him. "I have to."

"No, you don't." Rowan's words came out more forcefully than he had intended, but just the thought of some strange guy showing up and taking his little sister off on some adventure to unspecified locations in the name of a goddess that didn't even exist…. It made his blood boil just to think about somebody taking advantage of Spirit that way.

When she gave him an angry look, Rowan tried to explain in a way that wouldn't insult her devotion to her religion. "Look, I understand that this is an important thing in your faith or whatever, but it's too dangerous. You're just a little kid. If this is really so important, it can wait until you're older."

"But Rowan, I need to do this to save the world!"

"You're going to save the world by going to some random places and praying that the crops will suddenly start growing again? Why can't you just pray from Luin?"

She sighed. "You don't get it at all."

They crossed the bridge and entered the town. On top of the more pressing reasons that Rowan couldn't allow Spirit to leave with Kratos, he had to admit he was also largely motivated by the fact that he would miss her. It was bad enough she spent half her day at church on the one day a week Rowan didn't have work all day, but now she wanted to leave on a journey?

"Hmph," Rowan grumbled. "We'll see what Mom says about this."

So softly Rowan almost did hear her, Spirit said, "I _am_ going."

* * *

The sky was beginning to darken when Kratos arrived at the Praetor house. Rowan got the door when Kratos knocked, and Kratos thought he was about a second away from slamming the door right in his face. He probably would have if Spiritua hadn't appeared right behind him.

"Come in," Rowan said, turning away. From the sound of his voice, one might have thought it was a particularly vile cockroach at the door.

It was a very small house. Kratos lived in a large, immaculate suite in the holy city, and before that he had grown up in a wealthy home in the capital of Tethe'alla. The main room of this house might have passed for a closet in his childhood home. The room was dominated by a scrubbed-wood table with three chairs around it, and a black stove sat in the corner. There were two doors that led to other rooms, but from what he'd seen of the house from the outside, those rooms couldn't be that large.

"Hello," said a woman, standing up from the table. Her brown hair was turning grey and the weary lines around her eyes made her look older than she was. "You must be Sir Aurion."

Kratos nodded. "Thank you for welcoming me into your home."

"Are you hungry?" the woman asked. "Would you care for dinner? Or maybe a snack for your bird?"

Kratos looked around the Spartan room. It was obvious the family didn't have much to spare, and he'd feel uncomfortable taking what little they had. And beyond that, he was willing to bet the only meat they had was fish. After putting up with the stench of dead fish since he'd arrived in Luin, he didn't think he could stand the sight of the damn things. "That won't be necessary, but thank you for the offer. Now, I assume your children explained the situation to you."

"Yes," Mrs. Praetor said. "I understand that Spiritua must undergo a pilgrimage of some sort."

From one side of the table, Spiritua nodded. From the other side, Rowan glowered.

"Is your husband home?" Though he didn't know where the man might be hiding in a house this size. "I'd like to talk to both of Spiritua's parents before we depart."

A silence fell over the room as the three Praetors glanced at each other. Ah. So the man was dead.

"He's not here," Mrs. Praetor finally said. "He was taken to the Cleopolica ranch."

Kratos kept his face stony, though he did admittedly feel a small twinge of guilt due to his association with the Desians. "I see."

"It's ok," Spiritua said softly, staring at a whirl on the table. "When I regenerate the world, we'll get him back." Her words were met with silence for a few moments.

* * *

Lloyd interrupted Kratos before he could continue. "Where's Cleopolica?"

"Cleopolica is the name of the city that would later be named Asgard," Kratos said. "At that time, the nearest ranch was much closer to Cleopolica than Luin."

Colette asked, "Why did the name change?"

"I could explain that now, but to be honest, that would give away details that happen later in the story. Do you want to know now?"

"No, that's ok," Colette said. "I'd like it to be a surprise."

Kratos nodded. "Very well, then."

* * *

"Let's talk about the journey," Kratos said. "Mrs. Praetor, are you willing to allow your daughter to accompany me?"

Mrs. Praetor sighed heavily. "Yes," she said. "I can't say I'm a follower of Martel myself, but… I understand that this is very important to Spiritua. And besides, Sylvarant is in bad shape. We can't afford not to take any chance available for salvation, however unlikely."

"I'm not ok with it," Rowan said, pounding his fist on the table. "It's a useless risk. Spirit might get killed out there, and for what? So you can 'regenerate' your stupid god?"

"I was not aware that you had a voice in giving permission," Kratos said coldly.

Mrs. Praetor gave him a strained look. "Rowan-"

"I do so get an opinion," Rowan said. "I speak for Dad as long as he's gone, and I know there's no way he'd go for this."

"Rowan, be reasonable," Mrs. Praetor said. "This is very important to your sister and Sir Aurion is an official representative of the church, not some wandering rogue."

"I _am_ being reasonable!" Rowan said, throwing his hands up. "I'm the only one who is!"

"I'm going." Both Rowan and his mother turned to look at Spiritua, both their faces making it obvious that neither had expected her to speak. Spiritua's face, however, made it obvious that the normally quiet and shy girl had set her mind on something and was determined to follow through with it, no matter what.

Rowan obviously came to the same conclusion and realized that he had lost the argument. He leaned forward and buried his face in his hands. "Alright. I get it. You're going." He raised his head and met her eyes. "But so am I."

The siblings held each other's gaze for a few seconds, then Spiritua nodded.

"Hold on," Kratos said. "You're not coming." The boy irked him enough as it was and it had been less than twenty-four hours. There was no way he was going to travel with a surly teenager.

"Yeah, I am," Rowan said. "If Spirit's going, so am I. The last thing Dad told me before he was taken to the ranch was to take care of my sister. I can hardly do that if I'm here and she's halfway across the world."

"You would be a liability," Kratos said.

"I'm not a little kid," Rowan said. "I know how to fight and I can take care of myself."

"No."

"You can't stop me." Rowan crossed his arms and leaned back. "Even if you don't want me around, I'll just follow you. Spirit, you're ok with me coming, right?"

She nodded.

"So that's that, then," Rowan said.

Kratos sighed. He was going to lose this argument. The boy was right, however much it bothered Kratos. There wasn't anything he could do about Rowan following on his own short of handcuffing him to a fence post.

Kratos took a moment to entertain that fantasy. As pleasing as it was, Spiritua would never go for it.

"Fine," he grumbled. Noishe chirped on his shoulder, and Kratos got the feeling Noishe was laughing at him.

Rowan grinned triumphantly. "Great. When are we leaving?"

* * *

Lloyd's stomach rumbled and he reached down to put a hand over it. "Let's stop for lunch."

Kratos looked down at him and raised an eyebrow. "You ate breakfast two hours ago."

"And?" Lloyd gave him a petulant look.

"We're not stopping."

"Fine," Lloyd said, stopping short on the road. "Then I'll just stop on my own. Colette will stay back with me, right?"

Colette bobbed her head. "Of course I'll stay with you, Lloyd!"

Lloyd looked up at Kratos with a triumphant grin, then sat down on the grass with Colette. He opened his pack and searched through for one of the sandwiches Dirk had packed for him that morning.

"Oh, Lloyd, can I have the banana and peanut butter one?"

"Sure, Colette!"

They focused on their sandwiches, until Kratos reluctantly sat down next to them. "I don't think I should continue this story. It seems to be giving you bad ideas."

* * *

A/N: I decided to rename Asgard because in Dawn of the New World, Yuan mentions that when he lived there four thousand years ago, it wasn't called Asgard yet. Thank you for reading, everyone.


	3. Leaving Luin

You know you've had a busy vacation when you find yourself thinking "thank god school is starting again so I finally have time to write." I hope everyone had happy holidays!

* * *

**Chapter Three: Leaving Luin**

Lloyd opened his mouth and started trying to speak, revealing a lovely mouthful of partially chewed bread and jelly.

Kratos gave him a disgusted look. "Lloyd, I have not had to tell you not to talk with your mouth full since you were three years old."

Lloyd blushed and swallowed hard. "Sorry. As I was saying, Dad, you should continue the story while we eat."

"No, I should not."

"Why not?" Lloyd asked.

"Because if I do, it will only encourage you make this break last longer. We shouldn't even be stopping in the first place."

Lloyd grinned, remembering to swallow first this time. "But this way we get to have a relaxing picnic!" Any delay in reaching the Tower was a good thing.

"I won't start the story again until you finish and we start moving again."

"Aw…"

"Eat fast, because we're getting close to a pretty surprising revelation."

Colette perked up. "Oh? What is it?"

"I'll tell you when you finish eating."

Lloyd and Colette shared a quick look, then dove into their sandwiches with renewed vigour.

* * *

Rowan walked down the dock with his hands in his pockets, heading home. The sun still hadn't peeked over the horizon, but Rowan was used to getting up this early almost every day. After all, this was when the fish were most active.

He turned his head to look longingly at the lake. He supposed he wouldn't have to worry about the fish anymore. He'd just quit his job, so would no longer be going out on the lake every morning to fish. He'd been working for Captain Jones for over eight years, so it had been with a heavy heart that he announced his resignation. But he had to take care of Spirit, so he had to leave Luin.

* * *

"When do we get to the surprising revelation?"

"There is none. I lied. Be quiet and let me finish."

* * *

When he reached his house, Mom and Spirit were already up. They usually didn't get up this early, but Kratos wanted to leave early this morning. Mom smiled faintly as he entered, though it didn't reach her eyes. While Rowan and Spirit were here, the family needed Rowan's pay check to support them. But once they were gone, Mom would be able to support herself on her own. At least, that's what Rowan hoped.

"Are you ready to go?" Mom asked.

Rowan nodded. "Packed last night."

He sat down at the table with the other two. They were quiet as they sat and waited for the dawn, Spirit quietly eating a bowl of porridge. As she ate, Rowan noticed a glint of metal on her finger. "Where'd you get the ring, Spirit?"

She paused and lowered her spoon. "Mom. It was Grandma's."

The ring was gold, and had a small green gem set in it.

"I always meant to give it to you when you were older," Mom said wistfully.

"Then you should have," Rowan said. "It's not like we're not coming back."

"I know…" Mom said, looking down at her hands. "But I worry. There are Desians and monsters out there…"

"We'll be back before you know it, Mom."

Spirit nodded in agreement with a small smile.

There was a knock on the door. Everyone froze, and then slowly their heads turned to face the door. No one made a move to answer it.

Finally, Mom said, "Get the door, Rowan."

There was a great long list of things Rowan would rather do than get that door. This list included such things as skinny dipping in Lake Sinoa in December, or having a picnic in front of the Cleopolica ranch. And on the list of things he _did_ want to do was kick Kratos between the legs and tell him to get the hell out of his house.

Unfortunately, kicking him was not an option so Rowan reluctantly welcomed Kratos into the room. Kratos looked as grumpy and disdainful as ever as he looked around the room. He still had that stupid bird, too. Why did he have a green and white canary? What possible purpose could it serve?

"Are you ready to go?"

Spirit nodded and set her spoon down. She stood up and grabbed her backpack off the ground.

Rowan looked at her half-empty bowl and said, "You should finish your breakfast, Spirit."

She glanced at it, and then shook her head. She wasn't hungry. Rowan couldn't really blame her – there couldn't be much space in her stomach what with all the butterflies.

"Let's head out, then," Rowan said. He stood up as well and slung his bag over his shoulder. Rowan and Spirit walked over to Kratos and stood before him expectantly.

Kratos nodded. "If you don't have anything else to take care of in Luin, we should head out."

Kratos opened the door and headed out onto the street. Rowan was about to follow when his mom came up behind him hugged him tightly. Rowan stood awkwardly as he was embraced, Mom pressing her face against his neck.

"Come home safely," she whispered. "I couldn't stand to lose you kids, too."

"We'll be fine, Mom," Rowan said, highly aware of Kratos watching him. "We'll be back before you know it."

She finally let him go before turning to hug Spiritua. Unlike Rowan, Spirit actually returned the hug.

When Mom released her, the three of them walked out the door. Rowan turned to close it, said, "Bye, Mom. See you later," and shut it. When it was closed, he took a couple seconds to stare at the old wooden planks of the door. Something inside him was reluctant to turn around and begin the journey. He had the odd fear that once her turned his back on his home now, he wouldn't ever lay eyes on it again.

He sighed. He was being stupid. They had a journey to begin.

* * *

"So," Kratos said a few hours later, "I assume both of you know how to use those weapons?"

"Yes," Rowan said, glancing down at the bladed rings hanging from a loop on his belt. "My dad taught me before he was taken to the ranch."

"I must admit, those a very unique weapons." The pair of weapons Rowan had brought to fight with were rings of metal about a foot in diameter, with one segment of them flattened with a handle. Each of them had four spikes spaced around the ring.

"Yeah," Rowan said, "but it's kind of a family tradition. My great-grandfather fought with them in the Kharlan War."

* * *

"Hey, Colette!" Lloyd said. "That sounds like your chakrams!"

"You're right!" Colette looked down at her weapons with a smile. "I use chakrams because my dad did."

"Hm…" Lloyd rubbed his chin in thought. "That makes sense, though, right? Because if Spiritua was the Chosen who sacrificed herself… then Rowan's kid would be the next Chosen. He's the one who would pass down the Mana Lineage. He must be your great-great-great-something-grandfather, right, Dad?"

"Hm," Kratos said in way of answer. "Though Rowan did not fight with them the same way you did. Rowan was primarily a melee fighter and almost never threw his rings. They were designed for hand to hand combat."

Lloyd shrugged. "That's cool too, I guess. So if Rowan used chakrams, what did Spiritua fight with?"

"I'm getting to that; be patient, Lloyd."

* * *

"I certainly hope they aren't the same rings used by your great-grandfather," Kratos said.

Rowan rolled his eyes. "No, they are actually less than a hundred years old. And Spirit's bow is pretty new, too."

Kratos glanced over at the bow strapped to Spiritua's back, accompanied by a quiver of arrows. The kids assured him that they both knew how to use those weapons, but he hadn't had a chance to test that out yet. "If we're lucky, we won't have to use them for anything other than the seal guardians."

"Lucky?" Rowan said, fingering the handle of one of his rings. "Are you kidding? I hope we run into some half-elves. I'd like to give them a piece of my mind," he muttered darkly.

"By half-elves, I assume you mean Desians?" Kratos asked.

Rowan shrugged. "Same thing, aren't they?"

"Hm… In any case, you should hope we _don't_ encounter Desians. That would just be needlessly complicated. We shouldn't hope for a dangerous encounter just to sate your childish lust for action."

Rowan stared at him for a few seconds, no doubt trying to wrap his mind around Kratos' more advanced vocabulary. Eventually he said, "This isn't about bloodlust. This is about revenge. When I was little, I was too weak to fight back when they captured my dad and me. My dad helped me escape, but if I had been stronger, then… then he might have been able to escape too. But I'm older and stronger now, and I'm going to make those Desians pay for what they did."

Kratos nodded slowly. "A noble dream. However, it is unlikely that you'll be able to do much, considering you aren't a fighter."

"I told you – I know how to fight!"

"Hmph."

Kratos heard a clamour of metal as Rowan pulled his rings up. He stepped around and stood in front of Kratos, holding his rings ready for battle. "I'll show you. Fight me right now and I'll show you that I'm not weak."

Spiritua looked between the two of them with a worried look, while Kratos was just bored. "Put those down before you hurt yourself."

"I'm getting pretty tired of your arrogant talk, Aurion. Are you going to take me on or are you a coward?"

Kratos met Rowan's gaze. The boy was very confident and no doubt had at least some experience with his weapons or else he wouldn't be so certain in his abilities. Kratos debated whether or not he should stoop to having a spar with the kid. On one hand, if he didn't do it, Rowan would no doubt taunt him about being a 'coward' for the rest of the journey. Kratos wasn't sure if he could handle that kind of annoyance. On the other hand, going through with the fight would be caving to Rowan's demands and might make him think he could boss Kratos around in the future. There really was no way Kratos could come out of this situation with the upper hand in the long run.

Kratos scrutinized Rowan's face, trying to determine whether that had been Rowan's plan all along. Had Rowan knowingly given Kratos an unwinnable decision, or was he just giving the kid too much credit? If Rowan had set this up on purpose, refusing the fight would be the smarter move. But if the ramifications of accepting the fight hadn't occurred to Rowan, then accepting the challenge and quickly defeating him would be better.

Kratos hadn't known him long enough to make such a call with certainty, but from what he did know, Rowan was an uneducated, impulsive, and stubborn boy. To assume he had concocted this wild plan to try and manipulate Kratos was probably giving him too much credit. In that case, Kratos would fight him quickly and hopefully shut him up.

He sighed. "Very well. I promise not to hurt you too seriously."

Rowan snorted. "You too."

Kratos smirked, letting the boy think he had a chance for at least a few seconds before the fight began. "Chosen, please stand back. I wouldn't want you to get hurt by accident."

Spiritua glared at Rowan, punched him lightly in the arm, and then took a few steps off the road and sat down on the grass.

Kratos drew his sword, waiting for Rowan to make the first move. Rowan eyed him up and down, and stood motionlessly for a long minute. Kratos was beginning to wonder if he'd chickened out when Rowan struck with the suddenness and speed of a snake. Kratos whipped his sword up and blocked the blow from the first ring, then side-stepped to avoid the second.

Five seconds later, Kratos realized that if he wasn't as skilled as he was, Rowan would have the advantage. Kratos had never fought an opponent with rings before, whereas Rowan had undoubtedly trained with the expectation that most of his opponents would be fighting with swords. The rings demanded much closer combat than the blade, meaning Rowan was light on his feet as he darted into and out of Kratos' strike range, trying to land a hit.

Twenty seconds into the mock battle, Kratos conceded that the boy did, in fact, possess some skills. Kratos had been holding back, not wanting to injure Rowan. But he was tiring of this and if he let it run on any longer, Rowan might grow cocky. Kratos suddenly struck with heightened fervour, forcing Rowan to take the defensive.

Rowan threw his ring up and caught the blade of Kratos' sword between two of the spikes, his arm shaking with the effort of holding him back. Kratos pulled back, and Rowan began dodging. His speed was greater than his strength, and he used this to his advantage by darting around Kratos' blade rather than trying to use force to hold him back.

Rowan dodged until Kratos was able to spear the ring right through the center and then whip his arm to the side. The ring was pulled out of Rowan's grip and then slid off the sword and landed in the grass. Rowan gave it one glance, but then switched his other ring to his right hand and tried to keep going.

A minute later, Kratos managed to repeat the action and unarm the boy. Kratos swung his sword around and hit him across the chest with the flat of his blade, knocking Rowan off his feet.

As Rowan lay in the dirt, panting for breath, Kratos sheathed his sword. "You did well," he said. "Better than I expected, at least. However, it would be foolish to charge into a fight with Desians at your current skill level."

Rowan didn't reply, and Kratos held out a hand to help him up to his feet. Rowan's hand came up to reach for his, but at the last second the hand suddenly darted forward. Kratos didn't even have time to ask what he was doing before he suddenly felt a stabbing pain rake across the back of his hand. He yanked his arm back and reached for his sword as Rowan jumped to his feet.

Kratos had his sword at Rowan's throat within seconds, even as blood ran down his hand. Rowan just grinned, and held up his hands in defeat. In his right hand was a bloody fishhook. "Yeah, yeah, you win," Rowan said. He threw the hook on the ground and spread his fingers for Kratos to see. "Look, I'm unarmed now."

Kratos nodded and lowered his sword. "Fight's over." With his sword sheathed, he walked over to Spiritua and rummaged through his bag. As he pulled out a roll of bandages, he glanced over his shoulder and saw that Spiritua and Rowan were having another of their silent conversations.

Once his hand was wrapped up, Kratos stood up straight. "While you may feel proud for managing to inflict an injury, you should take into account the fact that now the group's best fighter is injured."

"You'll be fine," Rowan said, waving his hand. "I didn't cut you that deep."

Kratos frowned as Rowan and Spiritua picked up their belongings and started walking again. His hand hurt. The boy hadn't been supposed to actually injure him. He'd definitely had worse injuries before, but he really hadn't been expecting this. Kratos sighed and followed the kids.

* * *

"Kratos," Colette said, "why didn't you just heal yourself?"

"I didn't know healing spells at the time," Kratos said. "I learned those later."

"What?" Lloyd said. "Wow, it's hard to imagine you not knowing First Aid…. Why didn't you know them?"

"I learned all my magic from Yuan and Mithos," Kratos explained. "Neither of them knew how to heal, either, because the healer of our party was Martel, who of course died before I acquired the ability to use magic."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Lloyd said. "Still, it would have to suck to be on that journey without any First Aid."

"Yes," Kratos said. "It did make it more difficult."

"What about Apple Gels?"

"They were rare and expensive in those days. Only a few skilled doctors knew how to make them and so they were much more valued and used only for more serious injuries."

"Wow," Lloyd said. It was amazing how much had changed in the last four thousand years. Imagining life without Apple Gels to get rid of any injury was hard to comprehend.

* * *

As the sun went down that evening, the three travellers stopped on the side of the road to set up camp. Luin was surrounded by a prairie of tall grass with only a few clumps of bushes here and there, meaning their supply of firewood was dismal. They stopped by a few bushes and were able to get a small fire going.

"Did you two pack food?"

Spiritua nodded.

Rowan said, "Some, but I assumed we'd have to restock during the journey anyway so I only have a two weeks' worth."

Kratos nodded. "We'll restock when we reach Cleopolica." And besides, after the Tower of Mana, Spiritua wouldn't need to eat so they'd have extra. Then as Rowan and Spiritua began pulling out their supplies for dinner, Kratos decided he'd just let Rowan take the surplus food. It seemed like all they had brought was dried and salted fish.

Kratos didn't mind fish. He ate it every now and then and shellfish was pretty good, but since he'd reached Luin it had just been fish everywhere. He knew he couldn't blame them; it was a fishing town and Rowan was a fisherman and they weren't wealthy enough to buy more expensive meats… but he was still tired of fish.

He was just glad he'd brought his own supplies so he wouldn't have to put up with fish. Everything was dehydrated, of course, because they had no way to keep things fresh. As they ate their rather dull dinner, Kratos chided himself for having grown soft after a hundred years of Welgaia. Back in his soldier days, a meal like this would have been considered a treat.

After dinner, Rowan flopped back into the grass and spread his arms out. "Man, I'm exhausted. I don't think I've ever walked that much in my life."

"Don't fall asleep yet," Kratos said. "We all have to take our turns taking watch tonight."

Rowan raised his neck without sitting up. "Do you want to go first or last?"

"There is a third option," Kratos said. "The Chosen will take a shift as well."

"I'll cover hers," Rowan said. "She needs to get her sleep."

"You can't take two shifts." Not only would the boy then be operating on hardly any sleep the next day, but also Kratos' pride wouldn't let a kid stay up all night while Kratos snoozed. "If you insist on letting the Chosen sleep, we'll simply divide the night into two shifts."

"If you say so," Rowan said.

Kratos wondered if this had been another competition. Did Rowan get 'points' by offering to take two shifts while Kratos only took one? Kratos shook his head; this was ridiculous. He didn't need to compete with some kid.

Spiritua said, "What are we watching for?"

"Monsters, mostly," Kratos said. "This region has many dangerous fauna, such as basilisks and ogres."

"Also pirates," Rowan said. He finally sat up straight, leaning back on his hands.

Kratos stared at him for a second, trying to determine whether or not Rowan was pulling his leg. Surely he could not honestly be worried about pirates this far inland? When Rowan's expression didn't change from dead serious, Kratos said, "…Pirates?"

Rowan grinned, obviously pleased that he knew something Kratos didn't. "Yeah, pirates. They used to patrol the seas and raid ships, but then once everyone was too poor to ship things across the sea, they came inland. The ones now have never set a foot on a ship, but the name stuck."

"Ah, yes," Kratos said, nodding. He had heard that the Cleopolica region suffered from bandit attacks quite frequently, but hadn't been aware that the local vernacular referred to them as pirates. "I have heard of that. You're correct in that we should be wary of them, though I don't think we should be unduly concerned. I am, after all, a very strong fighter."

"Yeah, well I wouldn't mind a fight with those bastards. You know they support the Desians?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes, I've heard." At least, he assumed that this was what he'd heard about. Mithos said that a lot of the supplies for the ranch came from human bandits who sold to the Desians to make money. It was so much easier to get supplies brought right to them that it wasn't worth it to capture them.

"But as I said before," Kratos said, "you should not be hoping for a fight with anybody. Fights are dangerous."

"I know they are," Rowan said. "But I'm not scared. I know I can protect myself."

Kratos restrained himself from rolling his eyes. He tried to remind himself that Rowan was still just a headstrong teenager. It had been quite a long time ago, but he could still remember his own teenage days. Had he really been so different at that age? He recalled pestering his father almost every day from the age of seven to let him join the army so he could help fight the Sylvaranti.

But still. Understandable or not, Rowan's hotheadedness was going to get him killed, and probably put the Chosen in danger too. "This isn't a question about being brave," Kratos finally said. "It's about being smart. Rushing into a needlessly dangerous battle isn't brave, it's stupid. If you truly want to be a good fighter, you must learn to choose your battles judiciously."

Rowan sat up and wrapped his arms around his shins. He didn't meet Kratos' eyes and instead opted to stare at his knees. When he did speak, it was in a soft voice that almost reminded Kratos of the whisper-like way his sister spoke. "I know how to fight."

It was petulant and angry, but Kratos took hope in the fact that if he was upset, it was because Kratos' words had actually gotten through to him and managed to wound his pride.

"Go to sleep," Kratos said. "I will wake you up half-way through the night so you can take your shift."

Rowan nodded and fell back on his blanket. It was a warm summer night so there wasn't much concern for cold, but Spiritua still found it necessary to sleep huddled close to him.

Kratos sighed and turned away, gazing out at their surroundings and keep a close watch for monsters. He heard the twitter of a songbird, and then Noishe flew through the air towards him. He landed on a rock and cocked his head at Kratos.

"Good evening, Noishe. Did you enjoy your dinner?"

Kratos took the chirp as a yes. He felt a slight twitch of envy that unlike the humans of the party, Noishe could just forage around for seeds to feed himself and didn't have to carry supplies across the world.

"I'm taking the night watch right now. You can go to sleep."

Noishe chirped and flew up to sit on Kratos' shoulder, where he stood upright and followed Kratos' gaze at the world.

"Oh? Are you going to keep me company?"

He tweeted.

"Thank you. I must admit, it has been a very long time since I played the watchman at night. It almost feels like the old days again." Behind him, the fire crackled and Spiritua shifted. "I just hope neither of those two snore as much as Yuan did."

* * *

"There's someone up ahead."

Lloyd snapped out of the story and looked ahead. They were just coming out of patch of trees and back into open fields when a pair of figures appeared on the path ahead of them. It appeared to be a girl and a young man, and the girl was whacking the man with a thin stick of some sort – it looked like a rapier.

"Do you think they're enemies?" Lloyd asked. The group stopped on the edge of the woods, wondering if they should wait for the pair to move on.

"We should go talk to them!" Colette said. "Maybe we can be friends with them."

Kratos gave Colette one of his looks. Lloyd was very familiar with these looks, having received quite a few of them whenever he'd made suggestions during the journey. Colette seemed to be oblivious to the fact that it was not a friendly and encouraging look.

Lloyd stared at the pair, trying to judge whether they were trouble. The girl had short, pale blonde hair and wore a pretty white dress trimmed in red, and the man she was assaulting had spiky blue hair with a long ponytail at the back. Lloyd could vaguely make out what the girl was saying; mostly yelling insults and calling him a stupid and dumb.

"We might as well talk to them," Lloyd said. "If they are trouble, I'm sure we can take them. I mean, after Mithos, how much trouble can they be?"

Kratos nodded, and Lloyd felt a small flutter of pride that Kratos was actually agreeing with him. Kratos strode forward with his head held high, with Lloyd and Colette eagerly tagging along behind him.


	4. Riddle Me This

**Chapter Four: Riddle Me This**

"You're so stupid!" The girl whacked the tall man with her rapier, while a slight breeze blew a handful of paper hearts on the ground towards Lloyd.

"Hello!" Colette said, and the pair froze and turned to face them. "Are you having a problem?"

Lloyd bent to pick up one of the paper hearts as the girl said, "What do _you_ want?"

"We're just travelling," Colette said. "Are you guys ok? Is something wrong?"

"This _idiot_," the girl said, "cut up our map!"

The man pouted. "But Alice, I was just trying to surprise you!"

Lloyd looked down at the paper and on the back he saw the inked black lines he recognized as Flanoir's coast. He raised his head again and said, "If you guys need directions, I'm sure my dad can help out." He jerked his thumb at Kratos, who looked taken aback at suddenly being offered as a helper. "He knows his way around really well!"

"Lloyd…" Kratos muttered warningly.

Alice rolled her eyes. "I don't want your help."

The blue-haired man, however, jumped at the opportunity. "Yes! Could you please direct us to Palmacosta?"

Alice rounded on him and smacked him again. "Decus! Didn't I _just_ say I didn't want their help?"

"I'm sorry, Alice! I was just trying to help!"

"Well, stop helping me you dumbo!"

"Palmacosta is southeast of here," Lloyd said. He knew Raine and Genis had been heading there first, and remembered exactly where it was from when Genis pointed it out to him on a map. "Why are you trying to go there?"

Alice glowered at him. "That's none of your business."

Kratos, with an air of one getting very tired of this, pointed back towards the trees and said, "On the other side of this grove you will find a crossroads. Take the road leading south and it will eventually take you to the coast. Once there, you will need to find aquatic transport to take you across the sea."

"Thank you very much," Decus said. "Come along, Alice, dear."

He started walked past Lloyd and the others, shortly followed by Alice, who glared at them. Kratos started walking again, as Colette said, "They seemed very nice. I hope we meet them again."

"I wonder who they were," Lloyd said.

"They're not important," Kratos said. "I will agree that they had a strange dynamic, but I wouldn't lose sleep over every odd traveller you come across."

Lloyd took a moment to ponder the possible definitions of the word 'dynamic', and concluded Kratos must have been referring to Alice's weapon. He'd never heard a rapier called a dynamic before, but then everyone did always tell him that his vocabulary was bad.

"You're probably right," Lloyd said.

"Kratos, what happened in your story?" Colette asked. "What happened when you guys got to the Tower of Mana?"

"Right, where were we…? The second day of walking was uneventful. We stopped for the night a couple miles away from the Tower, and reached it early the next morning."

* * *

Rowan stared up at the tower as they stood on the steps. "Well, sure, it's big enough," he said with arms crossed. "But the walk to get groceries would be a real killer."

Kratos and Spiritua stared silently at Rowan for a moment, until the boy stepped forward and opened the door of the Tower. Kratos and Spiritua followed him in, and they were immediately met by a sudden hush as a room full of librarians looked up at them in surprise. Kratos almost felt like he were intruding somewhere if he didn't already know that this library was public. The librarians were a motley group in matching beige robes, and all of them could probably fit under the broad term 'nerd'.

"Hello, sirs and madam," said one of the younger librarians. From the looks of things, he was one of the most recent people to join the library, and thus had not sacrificed all possible social skills in pursuit of research yet. However, as Spiritua stared at him with a warm smile, he did seem to be suffering from near cardiac arrest as he noticed that _a girl_ was paying attention to him. As much as he hated to admit it, Kratos very much remembered those awkward days.

He remembered them from observation, of course. He'd seen his peers react in such blushing awkwardness upon attention from the opposite sex, while he himself had never been anything but calm and collected.

* * *

"Lloyd, if you do not stop snickering, I will ground you for a week."

Lloyd's giggles ceased as if someone had suddenly pressed a mute button. He didn't think he'd ever in his life seen a scarier expression on his father's face.

* * *

"How can I help you?" the librarian asked, sending Spiritua darting looks.

Rowan apparently also noticed these looks and loudly cracked his knuckles. The librarian gave him a startled glance as Rowan smiled at him, and then backed up a few steps.

"We are here to visit the Seal of Light," Kratos said. "It is located at the top of the tower."

Since their arrival, the dozen librarians in the background had slowly started building up conversation again, only for it to cease again at Kratos' words.

The librarian in front of them said, "You want to go… _up_? But all the books you could possibly want are here on the ground floor."

Rowan rolled his eyes. "We're not here to look at your silly books. We just want to go to that damn seal."

"Yes, well, you see, we, er, we don't go up the Tower anymore. It's… dangerous."

"Oh?" Kratos cocked an eyebrow. "How so?"

"We believe that it has become… er, _haunted_."

Rowan and Kratos shared the same deadpan expression as they stared at the librarian and waited for him to start laughing and admit the joke. Spiritua's face didn't change, but then it was always deadpan so it was hard to judge if there was really a change in how she felt.

"So, wait, you're serious?" Rowan said, looking around the room. Not a single librarian in the place spoke up to refute him.

"Why do you believe it to be haunted?" Kratos asked.

"Well, you see, the rest of the tower used to be where we slept and stored more obscure books and such. But lately, things have started moving around without anybody there to touch them. It's most uncanny! It all started when that _thing_ appeared on the roof."

Spiritua cocked her head to the side and wrinkled her eyebrows questioningly.

"There's this altar that suddenly appeared. We have no idea what it's for, but when Rodney went up to investigate, this horrible monster appeared and devoured him!"

Rowan and Spiritua shared a look, and then Rowan said, "So let me get this straight. An altar appeared that not only is screwing up your Tower, it's also murdering innocent people?"

The librarian nodded. "That's correct."

Rowan stared long and hard at the librarian, who looked very uncomfortable under his gaze. "Well, that settles it," Rowan said. "Chosen or not, we have to go deal with this altar. How do we get up?"

"Er, uh, actually we sealed the entrance closed."

Kratos sighed. Of course they did. Once more complication he would rather be without. "How do you unseal it?"

"Three of us would have to stand in on those three circles over there." The librarian pointed to three stone circles inlaid on the floor. "As long as we're standing there, the door will remain open."

"I see," Kratos said. "Then, may I request that three of you please stand on those circles while my companions and I enter the Tower?"

The librarian paled. "B-but then the ghosts will get out! We can't leave the door open!"

Kratos sighed. "Alright, then open the door and close it as soon as we're through."

"But then there would be no way for you to contact us and tell us to open the door again. The walls are very thick, you see."

This was already taking much longer than Kratos had been anticipating, and he was quite done with the conversation. "This is not a problem. We will find our own way out of the tower. Now please open the door."

He and the two children walked across the room to stand before the door. Three librarians cautiously approached the circles, giving Kratos and the others wary looks. When all three stood on the circles, the door slid open with a rumble.

"Excellent," Kratos said. "Thank you very much."

He started to walk through when the librarian said, "But, wait! How will you get out?"

Kratos looked back. "Magic. We will use magic to get out."

They walked away into the darkness as the door rumbled shut behind them.

"Be on your guard," Kratos said as they started up a winding spiral staircase. "I don't know how much truth there is to the man's story of a haunting, but just in case, we should be cautious."

Kratos himself pulled his sword out of his sheath, while the other two raised their weapons. Spiritua pulled an arrow from her quiver and held it in place on the bow without pulling the string back.

"Kratos," Rowan said, "as a member of Cruxis, what is your take on the news that Cruxis' altar is killing people?"

Kratos said nothing at first. This was a delicate situation that required careful handling. He finally settled on, "I am not aware of the precise details of this altar. I was not told precisely what the nature of each seal is." Admittedly, he was curious about this, too. Mithos had said that each seal would have a guardian, but he hadn't mentioned anything about the seals reacting to someone not the Chosen and attacking. He really wished he'd asked Mithos what each of the monsters would be.

"So it doesn't bug you at all that the organization you work for is causing innocent deaths?"

If Rowan was this upset about some random librarian getting killed, how was he going to react when he found out what was going to happen to Spiritua? Now he didn't have to worry about just how Spiritua herself would react, but her brother as well.

"Sometimes," Kratos said, "sacrifices must be made in the name of the greater good."

"I thought Martel was supposed to protect people? Or is it because the librarians aren't Martelists, so it's ok for them to be killed?"

Spiritua was the one to answer that question. From behind them, she quietly said, "Accidents happen. And Martel is very sad that she can't prevent them."

Rowan grumbled, but didn't argue the point.

They walked for a long time in silence. Spiritua hugged the wall of the tower and refused to look towards the long drop down, while Rowan absently whistled the tune to some song Kratos had never heard. After ten minutes of this, the whistling began to get on Kratos' nerves. Perhaps it was because Kratos' hearing was so much stronger than a normal human's, or maybe the silent emptiness of the tower just amplified it, but for whatever reason it just bothered him.

"Please stop," he said when he could take it no more.

"Stop what?" Rowan asked, thankfully ceasing his tune.

"Whistling."

Rowan piped a few notes. "What, this?"

Kratos eyed him. "Yes. That."

"Does it annoy you?"

Kratos stared at Rowan's smug grin. To answer yes would be to give Rowan the key to bothering him, to answer no would give Rowan permission to keep whistling. "Not at all, I just fear it may attract an-"

Kratos felt rather than heard the arrow flying by his ear. His head whipped around to see a shadowy spectre in a purple cloak reeling. He glanced quickly at Spiritua, who was silently loading a second arrow, and then rushed forward, embarrassed that the girl he was supposed to have been protecting had made the first move.

As he hefted his sword in preparation for a strike, a twinge of pain ran through his hand from where Rowan had cut him the other day. It was healing already, but still stung and hindered his ability to fight. Because of this, he used his left hand to support his right when he had to block a swing from the spectre's scythe.

Rowan slashed his ring at the ghost and knocked its hood back, revealing nothing underneath. Rowan took a surprised step back. "What?"

"Don't get distracted!" Kratos barked as he swung his sword across the spectre's chest. The ghost seemed to fold around his blade rather than be cut by it, and Kratos realized that this situation called for magic. "You hold it off while I cast" he said, taking a few steps back.

Rowan nodded silently and kept up a background noise of clangs as rings met scythe while Kratos charged a spell. It only took him about ten seconds before he said, "Thunder Blade." A giant electrified sword smashed down out of nowhere and pinned the spectre's purple cloak to the stone steps. The cloak flapped wildly for a couple seconds before the sword faded away and the cloak fell still.

"Is it dead?" Rowan asked, kicking the cloak. "Well… what do you call it when you get rid of a ghost? It's already dead."

"Exorcism," Kratos said, walking over and picking up the two arrows Spiritua had fired. "Although that generally has a more religious connotation." He handed the arrows back to Spiritua, who smiled slightly in thanks as she put them back in her quiver.

"Oi, Kratos," Rowan said, staring behind Spiritua's shoulder.

Kratos followed Rowan's gaze and saw dozens of small, stuffed creatures clambering over each other in an effort to speed up the steps towards them. There were bears, little girls with porcelain faces, rabbits with gaping mouths and an assortment of other stuffed creatures. The only uniting thing between them were the glowing red eyes that were all trained on the trio.

There were far more creatures than Spiritua han arrows, and trying to fight all the possessed creatures would be impossible. "Rowan," Kratos said softly, "take your sister and run."

Both siblings shot him a look. "Are you sure?" Rowan asked.

Kratos nodded. "I'll hold them off. You get the Chosen to safety."

"I can stay and fight with you," Rowan said, bracing his rings. "I can help."

Kratos gritted his teeth. "I never said you couldn't. But your sister needs you much more than I do right now."

Rowan glanced at Spiritua, who had her bow ready to fire as soon as the creatures got too close. Rowan nodded. "You're right. Come on, Spirit, we're getting out of here." She put away her arrow and let Rowan take her by the hand, and then the pair was running up the steps as fast as they could.

Kratos stayed behind, facing down the small army of plush toys. This was really quite ridiculous. He was a soldier, for Origin's sake! But he didn't have a choice when it came to the nature of his enemies, so if he was going to be tried with a possessed teddy bear, so be it. This was going to take magic.

He honestly wasn't that experienced with magic. He'd had the ability to use it for about a hundred years, but since they'd been living in peace for so long up in Welgaia he'd never had to use it for actual combat before. When it came down to a fight, he was much more comfortable using a sword the way he had trained for years, but with his hand injured and the vast number of flammable opponents before him, that would just be stupid.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, picturing the flames leaping about before his mind's eye. He summoned all the mana he had and released it in one blast of, "Fireball." It was simple. It was sweet. It was effective. The fabric bodies of the living dolls were, after all, extremely flammable.

With a screech, the red-eyed army went up in flames. The fire spread from one doll to another, and the mindless possessed toys weren't smart enough to spread out and flee from their burning brethren. It was almost comical, Kratos thought, as a plush bear waved its fake paws in the air to try and put out the flames. Then a little girl with a porcelain face frozen in a cheery smile and a fire incinerating her hair caught his eye, and he decided that as comical as parts were, it was also fairly disturbing.

Kratos remained watching the dolls burn in case any of them got through. After ten minutes, the fire began going out and all that was left of the ghostly army were the non-flammable bits, like beady glass eyes and discarded porcelain arms that littered the charred steps like a bloody battlefield.

Kratos turned and pulled out his wings, wishing all his opponents in the past had been made of fabric.

He flew up the centre of the tower, glad that he could avoid walking up the endless steps. He'd already walked up them once before when he came through here with Mithos and the others to make the pact with Luna, and it was just as tedious now as it had been then. In fact, one of the reasons he was most perturbed with Rowan's presence was that without him, Kratos and Spiritua could just fly for the rest of the journey whereas now they were stuck walking with him.

When he reached the top and entered the room beyond, he froze at the sight before him. Rowan lay on the ground, leaning against the wall and clutching his left arm with blood running between his fingers, while Spiritua struggled to keep her feet on the blade of a sword that she had pinned to the ground. Of course. He left them alone for five minutes and they got themselves hurt.

"Nice of you to show up," Rowan said through gritted teeth. "Go help Spirit."

"Chosen, I am going to use magic to get rid of that ghost. My magic will be all around you, but it won't harm you."

Spiritua nodded. Her face was surprisingly calm for a little girl holding down a possessed sword with nothing but her body weight.

After a minute of casting, Kratos said, "Eruption." Fire and rock boiled to the surface around Spiritua, who looked at the fire consuming her with curiosity. Rowan sputtered in amazement when the fire died down and Spirit stepped away completely unharmed, the sword lying uselessly on the ground.

As Kratos reached into his bag to pull out bandages to treat Rowan's wound, he asked, "What happened?" Kratos did have a couple Apple Gels, but this wound wasn't nearly serious enough to deserve one of them.

"Spirit and I got up here just fine," Rowan said as the bandages were wrapped around his arm. "But that crazy sword thing attacked us. I tried to fight it off, but what are you supposed to stab when the entire thing is a blade? Anyway, it got me. Spirit shot it down with an arrow and then pinned it there until you showed up."

Rowan stood up and pulled the sleeve of his shirt back down over his arm. The sleeve of his brown jacket was stained in blood, but he didn't seem to mind. "Well, are you guys ready to face whatever monster it is at the seal?"

"Don't get cocky," Kratos said. "Now both of us are injured. This fight might be more difficult than you think."

"Ha," Rowan said, marching towards the other exit. "I never took you for one to get scared, Kratos."

Kratos just sighed. Really, it was stupid to get so bothered by the words of some arrogant teenager, but he couldn't help it. Something about Rowan just rubbed him the wrong way. In any case, he followed Spiritua through the doorway and onto a balcony.

"How do we get across?" Rowan asked, standing by the open gap where a bridge ought to go. He leaned on the railing that was there, no doubt contemplating whether he could make the jump or not.

"I'll carry you," Kratos said as he pulled out his wings.

Rowan turned around and made a face. "I'm not getting carried."

"Then you will wait here as the Chosen and I make the pact."

Rowan's face became even more disgruntled. He muttered something under his breath that Kratos couldn't make out but guessed were swear words, and then said, "Ok, fine, you can carry me."

"We're… flying across?" Spiritua said, looking down at the floor far below with a pale face.

Kratos nodded. "Yes, it is the most convenient method."

Rowan took a few steps over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I'll go first and make sure it's safe, ok?"

She nodded slightly, though the apprehensive look never left her face.

Kratos pulled his wings out and wrapped his arms around Rowan's chest. Rowan stiffened uncomfortably as Kratos took off, and then a few seconds later they landed on the other side of the gap. Kratos turned and was about to take off again when Rowan reached out and grabbed his arm.

Kratos looked back in annoyance. "What?"

"Just so you know, Spirit's afraid of heights. Try not to scare her."

Kratos nodded as he took off. If she was afraid of heights, this was going to make his planned exit from the tower difficult. He could only hope she'd get over it once she got wings.

When he landed, he stood before Spiritua and said, "This is perfectly safe. I just carried your brother with no trouble and he's heavier than you."

She nodded slowly with wide eyes as Kratos carefully lifted her. He decided to carry her bridal style, because carrying a girl with your arms wrapped around her chest was just a bit more awkward. She was very light, though, so Kratos barely even noticed the extra weight as he carried her across the gap.

When they were all on the other side, Kratos stepped to the warp. "I'll go through first in case whatever comes out of the altar appears and is dangerous. You follow right behind me."

As he came through the warp, Kratos drew his sword. His hand ached and he had a slight worry that this fight was going to be more difficult than he had been expecting. He'd been out of practice for a long time, after all.

Spiritua came through right after him, shortly followed by Rowan. All three of them drew their weapons and looked around the top of the tower, expecting some hideous beast to emerge at any moment. Spiritua was still pale-faced from the glance she took over the side of the tower, while Rowan had a serious expression as he waited for the fight.

"Chosen," Kratos said, "approach the altar."

Spiritua nodded and slowly walked forward. Rowan was instantly at her side, not about to let her go marching up to a potentially deadly altar. Kratos was close behind them as the tower rumbled a bit and a burst of light shot up out of the purple altar. A couple seconds later, a quadrupedal figure appeared. It walked slowly off the altar and then sat back on its haunches.

It appeared to be a large golden lion, but instead of a lion's head, it had the head of a beautiful young woman with light brown skin and enchanting golden eyes. She smiled as she watched them, revealing pointed teeth. Kratos braced his weapon, waiting for the sphinx to attack.

"Greetings, travellers," the sphinx said. "Do you desire access to the altar?"

Kratos frowned. No one had told him that the seal guardians were going to _speak_.

Spiritua nodded slowly.

"In order to get passed me, you must answer a riddle. Because there are three of you, I will ask you three riddles. If you answer them correctly, I will allow you to pass. If you decline to answer, you may leave unbothered. If you are incorrect, I will devour you." Her paws twitched, revealing razor sharp claws. Combined with her teeth, Kratos had little doubt that she could be quite a threat. And considering both he and Rowan were injured, this had the potential to be a very dangerous fight. Their best bet would be to just answer the riddles correctly.

"Alright," Rowan said, "let's hear these riddles. I hope you guys are good at riddles, because I suck at them."

The sphinx gave them a coy smile and said, "Riddle the first. What creature goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?"

Kratos almost smiled. He had almost been worried, but it was nice to know that the sphinx was sticking to the classics. Kratos had heard this riddle many years ago and remembered the answer easily. "The answer is a man," Kratos said. "He crawls on all fours as a baby, walks upright as a man, and walks with a cane in his old age."

The sphinx nodded. "That is correct."

Rowan breathed a sigh of relief. Kratos could tell he was putting on a brave face, but the injury to his arm was much worse than the cut on Kratos' hand, so he obviously knew that a fight would be bad news. Kratos was pleased that he at least knew enough to realize he wasn't in any shape to fight, even if he did seem to look forward to fights under normal circumstances.

"Here is riddle the second," the sphinx said. "There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first."

Kratos hesitated, his early confidence gone. He felt like he'd heard this riddle before, but couldn't place it or recall the answer. Obviously the riddle was metaphoric and there weren't literally two sisters, but then what could it be referring to? He stroked his chin, deep in thought. Next to him, the Praetor siblings stood silently, staring at him and hoping he came up with the answer.

Kratos was determined to figure this out. The sphinx was an ancient creature, so the riddle probably drew from myth. What were two sisters from myth? Well, the thing that jumped out to his mind immediately was the sun and the moon. He was pretty sure those both of those were feminine in Trietan lore, and the sphinx originated in Triet. But the sun didn't exactly give birth to the moon. But perhaps it was tied to that…?

A gasp came from Spiritua. Kratos looked down at her just as she said, "It is day and night."

Kratos clutched his sword. He wasn't nearly as confident in this answer as he was last time, so he waited with bated breath as the sphinx stared at them with unreadable eyes. Any moment now he expected the sphinx to lunge at them at any minute. Rowan's hand twitched, ready for the sphinx to attack.

"That is correct," the sphinx finally said, and the trio let out a collective sigh of relief.

They just had to answer one more riddle and then they'd be in the clear. Kratos was confident that between him and Spiritua they could come up with an answer. The sphinx almost looked like she was smiling as she began the next riddle.

"Here is riddle the third: Alive without breath, as cold as death, never thirsty, ever drinking, all in mail never clinking."

This was definitely not one Kratos had heard before. He looked down at Spiritua, hoping maybe she had heard it before. Her face, however, was as blank as his own. They were going to have to just work this out, then, but it didn't make any sense to him at all. Each line of the riddle seemed to contradict the one before it.

They stood silently for almost five minutes. Kratos racked his brain for an answer, his eyes trained on the wickedly sharp claws on the ground right before them. The sphinx made no move to attack despite how long they were taking, just waited silently with a patient look on her face. It didn't matter how patient she was, though, because in the five minutes of waiting, Kratos had not thought of a single thing.

"I feel like it's on the tip of my tongue…" Rowan said, scratching his chin.

Kratos looked down at him. Rowan was an uneducated kid from a small town who spent most of his life on a boat smelling like fish who was self-professed to be bad at riddles. Kratos thought he could be forgiven for doubting that he had the answer.

At the moment, Kratos was entertaining the idea of a fight with the sphinx. It would be a difficult fight, but he thought they would be able to manage. If they gained the element of surprise, they might be able to make it work. The sphinx was waiting for them to answer incorrectly to attack, but if he struck now he could catch the sphinx by surprise and gain the advantage. The trick would be to finish the fight fast before they lost that advantage.

He looked down at the kids. Spiritua was still stumped, Rowan's face was screwed up in deep thought, and no one leapt forward to provide an answer. It had been long enough; he wasn't going to figure this out. It was time to act.

"Double Demon Fang!" The sudden attack surprised the sphinx, and gave Kratos enough time to grab Spiritua's arm and push her back out of range of the sphinx's claws. At the same time, Rowan shouted in surprise and threw his rings up to brace for an attack.

The sphinx roared and sprang forward, outstretched claws glinting in the sunlight for a fraction of a second before they crashed into the green shield of Guardian that had been summoned an instant before the sphinx hit it.

Kratos pulled out his wings as soon as the shield disappeared and flew straight into the air. He felt the claws of the sphinx graze his ankle, but he was too fast for her to manage a cut too deep. With a loud _twang_, Spiritua released an arrow that flew true straight into the sphinx's shoulder. This drew the lion's attention, and Kratos swore under his breath as her attention turned to the Chosen. He tried to cast faster.

Spiritua backed up, another arrow already being pulled back. At the same time, however, the sphinx was stalking towards her, leaning down to get ready to pounce. Spiritua didn't show any concern on her face, but even if she released her arrow right now, it wouldn't be enough to keep the sphinx from attacking.

_Clang, clang, clang_! "Here, kitty!" Rowan banged his rings together to make a loud clanging, and successfully drew the attention of the sphinx. Her head snapped to him, her eyes locking in on the irritating noise he was making. Rowan continued, backing away across the tower. "That's right, stupid cat, look over here!"

The sphinx charged at Rowan, and Kratos took his chance to cast the spell he'd been charging. "Grave!"

The sphinx darted to the side, getting away with only a scratch to her side. She growled, and continued her beeline for Rowan. The boy gave up trying to distract her and turned and ran. He took off across the tower, sphinx hot on his heels. Kratos followed, dive-bombing the sphinx from above. He landed on her back like he was riding a velocidragon, and plunged his sword between her shoulder blades.

The sphinx yowled and bucked her hind legs, throwing him off. Kratos landed gently on his feet thanks to his wings, but he had left his sword behind in her back. The sphinx glared at him, her human eyes filled with an animal-like fury. Kratos waited for her to fall due to the sword still in her back, but she just crouched low and prepared to spring at him. Meanwhile, Kratos took a second to notice that the wound he'd inflicted on her side with Grave had already healed, leaving only a patch of blood to show that she'd ever been injured.

An arrow pierced her between the eyes, distracting her enough to give Kratos the chance to take to the air and yank his sword out of her back. The wound was already healing. This might turn out to be a more difficult battle than Kratos had been hoping for. How could they kill something that healed faster than they could wound it?

Kratos landed and faced the sphinx, watching for any sign of weakness. The sphinx stared right back, the arrow still stuck between her eyes. Kratos noticed Rowan, standing still a few feet away with a look of thought on his face. The sphinx crouched, ready to pounce. "Double Demon Fang!"

He should have used Guardian. The second he casted, the sphinx leapt, dodging the ground-based attack. He was still only half-way through saying 'Guardian' when the sphinx hit him, her claws digging into his chest. Kratos grunted as he hit the ground, his fingers clutching the hilt of his sword tightly. The sphinx roared in his face.

"You have broken the rules of engagement."

He was at a bad angle. From his present position it would be difficult to wound the sphinx even if she didn't heal so quickly.

"Wait!" Rowan shouted, running forward. "Fish! Fish! It's fish!"

Kratos and Spiritua both stared at Rowan, who was flailing his rings wildly and shouting 'fish' over and over. Kratos wondered if perhaps he was trying to distract the sphinx again, when the large cat lifted her wait from Kratos' chest. She sat back on her haunches and smiled.

"That… is correct."

The sphinx walked back to the altar, sat back, and slowly dematerialized.

In the sudden stillness, Kratos was acutely aware of all three of them panting for breath. His chest hurt, but it was bearable. Kratos pushed himself to his feet and sheathed his sword. Rowan dropped his arms and Spiritua lowered her bow.

"I told you!" Rowan shouted, storming towards Kratos. "I _told_ you! I said I had it! I said I was a second away from getting it! Why the hell did you attack when I said I had it?"

"You didn't seem terribly confident at the time."

"But I had it! Couldn't you wait just three seconds and given me a chance? For Origin's sake, you nearly got us killed!"

Kratos didn't bother responding. He wasn't about to be lectured by some kid who happened to get lucky. He still felt justified in assuming Rowan wouldn't know the answer, because the only reason he'd gotten it was because if there was one thing Rowan was familiar with, it was fish.

"Chosen, approach the altar and offer your prayers."

"Nothing's gonna jump out this time, right?" Rowan said as he glared at Kratos with suspicion.

"The guardian has been defeated, so I would assume not."

"Well, last time you told her to go to the altar, a crazy cat lady tried to kill us."

Spiritua ignored their bickering and walked up to the altar. Kratos gave Rowan a dismissive glance and then went to stand behind Spiritua. Rowan just stood back and glowered.

Spiritua clasped her hands to her chest and closed her eyes, silently praying. Within half a minute, light glowed from above and Yuan made his entrance. Kratos smirked a bit as he saw that Yuan's hair was down. It seemed he had been taken by surprise and rushed down here as fast as possible. Probably playing with his computers again.

"Good job, Spiritua," Yuan said with a small smile. "You've completed the first step towards becoming an angel." He waited to see if Spiritua would say anything, but she didn't. "In the name of Cruxis, I grant you the power of the angels."

Glowing orbs of light appeared above Spiritua's head and swirled through the air as they descended. Rowan tensed as they approached Spiritua, but the Chosen herself remained placid and stared down the approaching light with steadfast determination.

The light hit her, and Spiritua closed her eyes and grunted slightly as her body began to glow. She arched her back as she was lifted a few feet into the air, and then deep blue blades of light sliced out of her back. The sparkling segments of wing were blue like the night sky and speckled with shimmering pinpoints of light.

"You've done well so far," Yuan said. "I will see you again at the next altar. Good luck." The light around him grew in intensity and then he floated upwards and gradually disappeared.

"Spirit…" Rowan said, coming up next to her as her feet reached the ground again. "Are – are they real?"

She nodded, and turned slightly to let Rowan reach up and gently touch the edge of the largest segment of her wing. Rowan had a blank expression on his face as he struggled to make sense of this turn of events. Rowan did not believe in Martel, or angels, or the Chosen of Mana. Now his sister inexplicably had wings that were very tangible and very real. Kratos could scarcely imagine the crisis of faith going on in his head.

In any case, it was time to get down from the tower. Kratos walked over to the edge and looked down. It was a long drop, but the entrance they had come in through had been sealed shut. He looked back at Spiritua and Rowan, and remembered what Rowan had said earlier about Spiritua's acrophobia. She was not going to like his chosen method for exit.

* * *

Lloyd could see mountains on the horizons. They were going to have to cross them eventually, but hopefully not for a few more days at least. Most notably, though, was the fact that the sun was beginning to set behind those mountains.

"It's getting late," Kratos said. "We should stop for the night."

"Yeah, probably," Lloyd said as the trio stepped off the road to sit down. As Lloyd helped the other two set up camp, he was reminded of the old days back at the very beginning of the journey. If only Genis and Raine were here… As he sat in the grass with Kratos and Colette, he could almost pretend they were still naively running around and breaking seals, just like Spiritua and Rowan were doing in the story.

"I hope those people we met earlier are ok," Colette said as Kratos prepared the campfire.

Lloyd smiled. "Are you still thinking about them Colette? That was hours ago."

Colette returned the smile sheepishly. "Heh, sorry. I just hope they don't get lost again. After all, they did lose their map."

"Don't worry about them, Colette," Lloyd said. "I'm sure they'll reach Palmacosta in no time.

Once the pile of kindling was in place, Kratos used a quick fireball to light the fire and soon their camp was lit by the merry dancing of flames. Lloyd leaned back in the grass and rested his head in his hands.

"Hey, Dad, can you keep telling the story?"

"I'm sorry, Lloyd, but I'm tired. I've been telling it all day."

"Oh, that's alright, I understand." Lloyd stared up at the stars, waiting to get tired enough to actually fall asleep. Looking at the stars had been fascinating ever since the worlds combined. He was now seeing constellations he'd never even heard of before. Even if his dad did have to leave, at least combining the worlds had brought this small joy to distract him of that.

* * *

A/N: Warning: the following note is terribly nerdy.

Anyways, you may be interested to know that the second riddle offered by the sphinx in this chapter is actually the rarely seen second riddle of the sphinx. Most people know the first riddle (the one for which the answer is a man) but some obscure accounts of the legend say that there is a second riddle. Actually, the riddle that has been passed along as the riddle of the sphinx was not even included in the legend until many centuries after the myth was first told. So, there might be a different riddle that's even harder that is the 'true' riddle of the sphinx, but we may never know what it is. Also, the sphinx is supposed to devour herself if you answer her riddles and not simply leave, but I thought that was bit... disturbing.

The more you know!

Also, the third riddle is from J.R.R. Tolkien's _The Hobbit_.


	5. The Pirates Who Actually Do Something

**Chapter Five: The Pirates Who Actually Do Something**

"So how are we going to get down?" Rowan asked as he peered over the edge.

"We are going to fly down," Kratos said.

Spiritua's head snapped around to stare at Kratos, and for the first time in the journey he saw actual fear on her face. Rowan saw the look, too, and said, "No way. We'll find some other way."

"And what would you suggest?" Kratos said. "The way out down below is sealed shut."

"Hm…" Rowan rubbed his chin. "Ok, you fly down and get the librarians to open the door again. Meanwhile, me and Spirit will walk down so that we'll be right in front of the door when it opens so it won't have to remain open for too long."

"No," Kratos said. "The tower is dangerous. I can't allow the two of you to journey down it by yourselves." And besides that, Spiritua needed to confront her fear of heights. If she was going to be an angel, she was going to have to fly during the course of this journey and the sooner she got over her fear the better.

"We'll be fine!"

"So what happened to your arm the last time you two went off on your own?"

Rowan looked down and clutched his injured arm. "It won't happen again."

"Of course not." Kratos shook his head. "We're flying down." He turned and walked toward Spiritua. "Chosen, I am going to show you how to fly. It is very simple, so this will not be difficult."

She nodded slowly, and then Kratos pulled his wings out. "Now, your wings are already out. You can pull them in or out simply by concentrating on your body's mana. Try to put them away."

Spiritua closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath, and then her wings slid into her back. She opened her eyes again and looked over her shoulder with satisfaction.

"Very good. Now pull them out again by doing the same thing."

She did so. Off to the side, Rowan was watching them with crossed arms and an air of distrust.

"When your wings are out, you don't have to consciously think about keeping them out. They will stay there until you decide to pull them in and focus your mana on that task. Therefore, you are in no danger of accidently putting them away in flight. Do you understand?" After she nodded again, Kratos said, "When your wings are out, you will be able to fly simply by pushing up from the ground. Gravity will have less of a hold on you. To propel yourself, flap your wings. You can control them just like you would any other limb. Try it now."

Spiritua bent her knees and then jumped a little bit into the air. She hovered in place for a couple seconds, and then flapped her wings and moved forward. She moved around the top of the tower a bit, never straying more than a few feet off the ground. When Kratos was certain she had gotten the hang of it, he said, "Alright. You're ready to fly down the tower."

Spiritua landed next to Rowan and gave Kratos a fearful look, shaking her head violently.

"She doesn't want to," Rowans said. "Look, just let us walk down."

Kratos frowned. "Hm… Chosen, come here."

She hesitantly left Rowan's side and followed Kratos over to the edge of the tower. Kratos climbed up on the edge and offered Spiritua his hand. She stood on the crenulation and looked down at the ground far below. Her face was finally gaining colour again, but unfortunately that colour was green. She refused to pull in her wings, as keeping the flight mechanism out was the only thing keeping her from freaking out at the dizzying height.

"You're perfectly safe," Kratos said in a low voice as he put a hand on her shoulder. "You are an angel now. Angels cannot fall. You can fly."

She nodded slowly, but Kratos could feel her shaking.

"Are you ready to try and fly down?"

She shook her head.

"You'll be just fine as soon as you take to the air."

She shook her head again, harder this time.

Kratos sighed. He hadn't wanted to do this, but she was going to have to confront her fear eventually. Besides, she had wings so it was perfectly safe. He pushed.

Spiritua yelped as she plunged over the side, flailing her arms in the air as she slowly drifted down.

"You bastard!"

Kratos stepped off the ledge, turned, and caught Rowan's fist in his own in one quick movement. Rowan's arm shook with the effort of trying to overpower Kratos and his furious eyes locked with Kratos' own calm ones. The fact that Kratos didn't appear to be putting any effort into holding Rowan back did little to abate his anger.

"She's perfectly fine," Kratos said. "Look."

Rowan turned his head slightly to see that Spirit was indeed gaining her metaphorical footing. She slowly drifted to the ground like a leaf on the wind, hugging herself tightly. "Still," Rowan said, finally lowering his arm. "What kind of dick move are you trying to pull?"

"She needed to learn. She would never have learned to fly if I hadn't pushed her from the nest, so to speak."

"I don't care," Rowan seethed. "You'd better _never_ hurt Spirit again, greater good or not."

Kratos froze for a split second when faced by a sudden onslaught of guilt as the ultimate end of this journey crossed his mind. He couldn't think of anything to say, so settled with, "I'm going to carry you down."

Rowan made a face, and Kratos added, "Your choices are staying here and trying to find another way out, making your little sister fly all the way back up and carry you, or letting me carry you down. Which will it be?"

Rowan's face became, if possible, even more displeased. Kratos had to thank his heightened hearing for being able to make out the grumbled reply of "You can carry me…"

* * *

"You know, Dad," Lloyd said as they walked along, "I kind of have to agree with Rowan. Pushing Spiritua off the Tower of Mana was kind of a jerky thing to do."

"Hm, perhaps," Kratos said. "It was, however, quite effective. Furthermore, I'd observed it working out in the past."

"Really?" Colette asked. "By who?"

"After we first became angels, Mithos was the most reluctant to fly. Even after Yuan and I had gotten the hang of it, he stayed on the ground all the time. It was rather ironic, considering he's the one who pushed for us to become angels in the first place… Regardless, eventually Yuan just pushed him off a cliff."

In the theatre of Lloyd's mind, Yuan and Mithos stood on the edge of a high cliff. Yuan pointed off to the right and said, "Hey, Mithos, what's that over there?" Mithos turned his head away from Yuan, and then Yuan whacked Mithos in the back, sending the smaller boy screaming and flailing over the edge.

Kratos and Colette looked at him oddly as he clutched his gut in laughter. "Heh-heh, sorry."

"In any case," Kratos said, "the point is that while pushing her off may have been slightly extreme, it got the job done."

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, I get what you're saying." He sighed and kicked a rock on the road. "Hey, Dad? You said you felt guilty when Rowan mentioned hurting Spiritua… did you feel guilty with Colette on our last journey?"

Kratos hesitated, creasing his brow. Lloyd waited patiently for an answer he wasn't sure he wanted to hear. Maybe he shouldn't have asked. Kratos certainly looked guilty now as he glanced at Colette's innocent and trusting face. When he finally answered, he had to look away from her. "It's difficult to say. While you couldn't possibly say I _enjoyed_ the notion of leading an innocent girl to her supposed death, by that point in my life I had completely given up the hope that there was any other way. I considered it a necessary evil."

"And what about in Spiritua's time?"

Kratos sighed. "Lloyd, it's complicated. Throughout all my journeys with Chosens, I can assure you that I _never_ took pleasure in leading them to their deaths – even the boy who was exceedingly annoying in every manner possible – but I went through varying stages of acceptance of Mithos' plan. During Spiritua's time, Yuan and I still trusted Mithos fully. Even if we didn't like the details of his plan, we had faith that it was the best thing for the world."

Lloyd frowned. He didn't like it, but there were a lot of things about Kratos' past that he didn't like, and he had already decided to forgive his father. Kratos had done bad things in his past, but he regretted them and that was good enough for Lloyd.

"So, uh," Lloyd said, "I'm willing to bet that when the truth about the journey came out, Rowan wasn't very happy?"

Kratos nearly laughed aloud. "Heh. That would be quite the understatement."

* * *

Spirit was sick. Kratos said that it was a natural effect from the angel transformation, but Rowan was still worried. At dinner that night, he'd insisted she try to eat some soup, but she'd thrown it up soon afterwards. Now she was pale and feverish and sweating even as she shivered under her blanket. She hadn't been this sick in years, and as much as Rowan tried to take care of her in his dad's place, treating illness was really more of his mom's thing.

Kratos assured him that she was going to be fine, but Rowan didn't know if he could even trust Kratos. He had no idea what he _did_ trust, either. He'd been raised to worship the Summon Spirits. Then a few years ago, Spirit had gotten involved in that weird Martel cult and tried to tell him that there was some all-powerful goddess watching over everyone and protecting them. To Rowan this had seemed like blasphemy against Origin, but he'd hoped that she'd grow out of it in a few years.

But now, she had wings. And Kratos had wings, too, and that Yuan guy had descended from a pillar of light with sparkling wings. Angels were not supposed to exist! He could excuse it with Kratos maybe being a half-elf and using some magical trick to make his wings, but Rowan knew for a fact that Spirit was completely human. The only explanation was if Cruxis _was_ real and really did have angelic power to bestow on her, but that went against everything Rowan had ever had faith in. He just didn't know what to believe in any more.

Maybe everything just felt worse now because it was the middle of the night and he was the only one awake. In the dark and desolate prairie around him, he almost felt like he was the only person still awake in the entire world. The gentle crackling of the dying embers of the fire provided little in the way of company. He had offered to take the first watch, because he knew he wouldn't be able to sleep while Spirit was so sick anyways. If he stayed up all night, he'd hopefully pass out from sheer tiredness once it was Kratos' turn.

Spirit shifted, pulling her blanket tighter around her chin. Her teeth chattered and Rowan frowned, wishing there was something he could do to help her. His own arm throbbed in pain, reminding him of how their last fight had ended with him lying wounded on the ground while Spirit held off the monster. He was supposed to be protecting her, not the other way around.

Kratos was supposed to be protecting her, too, and to Rowan's immense aggravation he seemed to be much better at it. But in Rowan's defense, he'd learned earlier tonight just why Kratos was so much stronger.

"What's that blue rock on your hand?" Rowan had asked as they had dinner a few hours earlier. Kratos and Rowan were eating, while Spirit had already curled up under her blanket to try and sleep.

Kratos lowered the apple he'd been eating and looked down at the blue gem on his hand. "It's a Cruxis Crystal, similar to the one the Chosen has."

"So, do all angels have these crystal thingabobers?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes. Cruxis Crystals are the devices needed to turn someone into an angel."

Rowan raised his eyebrows. "I don't understand. Aren't angels born angels? Or," he glanced at Spirit, "they are unless you're a fancy Chosen of whatever."

Kratos froze, and Rowan got the feeling the angel had suddenly realized he'd said too much. "That is not entirely accurate," Kratos said slowly. "Angels are… they are in all aspects human for the beginning of their lives, until Cruxis deems them worthy to accept their Cruxis Crystal and become full angels. This is similar to the process Spiritua is going through, but not as stringent."

Rowan stared Kratos down. There were many things he wondered about what Kratos' said. Kratos' hard eyes clearly said that Rowan had better believe what he'd been told because it was the only truth he has going to get, but Kratos' second of panic earlier gave him the impression that the angel was trying to backpedal and cover a mistake. What was Kratos not telling him? Additionally, what exactly did 'stringent' mean?

All he said, though, was, "So, you used to be human but now you got a shiny rock and that made you super powerful?"

Kratos nodded once. "In a nutshell, yes."

"Man," Rowan said, "I gotta get me one of these rocks."

"…That would not be recommended," Kratos said.

So really, it wasn't fair to compare his own strength to Kratos'. Until Rowan got himself a shiny rock, he'd never be able to surpass Kratos.

But that didn't stop him from being annoyed.

Kratos was asleep now. Rowan had questioned him about that, too, but apparently being an angel didn't mean he could skip sleeping. Kratos said that while he wouldn't _die_ from lack of sleep – or lack of food, even – they were necessary to remain at his top strength. It still sounded awfully convenient to Rowan.

But he really shouldn't be thinking about all this. After all, he was on guard duty right now and should be scanning the horizon, looking for any sign of danger. There was nothing ahead, nothing to the west, and nothing to the –

Wait. Oh crap, there _was_ something to the east, and it was coming their way.

Rowan stood up and squinted, trying to make out the large shape moving towards them very quickly. It was boxy in shape, and looked like a wagon of some sort. The longer he looked, the more it become obvious that there were more wagons behind the first one. It looked like a whole damn caravan was coming through, and now that it was getting closer he could make out human shapes walking in the grass beside it, some of them riding velocidragons. It might just be innocent travellers who decided not to stop for the night… or it could be pirates.

"Kratos!" Rowan hissed, scrambling over the rock he'd been sitting on to Kratos' side. He shook Kratos' shoulder, saying his name again.

Kratos' eyes opened in a flash and he was sitting up with his sword in hand faster than Rowan could think. "What's wrong?"

"I think pirates are coming."

"You think?" Kratos stood up and peered over the grass. His eyesight was much better than Rowan's, because of course everything about Kratos was better than Rowan. Rowan clenched his fists and tried not to stare at Kratos' back with so much anger.

"Well, if they're benign travellers, they're certainly well-armed." Kratos knelt and grabbed a couple handfuls of dirt, which he threw onto the fire. The fire hissed as it was smothered, while Rowan quickly packed their bags.

"What are we gonna do about Spirit?" Rowan asked.

"I'll carry her."

Rowan slung his bag over his back as Kratos picked Spirit up bridal-style, still wrapped in her blanket. A look over his shoulder showed that the pirates were getting closer, and by the way the pirates were hurrying, they'd been spotted already.

"Let's get out of here," Rowan said, and Kratos immediately took off down the road with Rowan hot on his heels. They ran as fast as they could, but they were hampered by the fact that Kratos had to carry Spirit.

Rowan heard shouts in the background as the pirates got closer. A glance back showed that they were riding velocidragons, and gaining on them quickly. If Spirit wasn't sick, Kratos would be able to carry him and then all three of them could fly away. As it was, though, as long as Rowan was grounded, they were going to get caught.

"Kratos!" Rowan shouted between pants of breath as they ran. "You have to fly away!"

Kratos slowed down and looked back at Rowan. "I can't carry both of you."

"I know," Rowan said, gasping for breath. "Take Spirit and go. I'll meet up with you later."

"And what is your plan?"

Rowan shrugged. "I'll think of something."

Kratos frowned, but then glanced down at Spirit's pale face. "Very well. Good luck." Kratos pulled his wings out, gave Rowan a brief nod, and then took off. Rowan watched Kratos fly off and disappear into the night sky, and then looked back to see the pirates coming uncomfortably close. Could he outrun them? Probably not. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try.

His feet pounded on the dirt path with even more force than his pounding heart. His bag thumped against his side, but it was mostly empty so it wasn't weighing him down greatly. Rowan was fast, but the pirates had mounts that wouldn't tire for hours and the road ahead of him wouldn't reach civilization for at least another day.

He heard more racing footsteps, but these weren't his own. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the sleek grey-green of a velocidragon's scaly hide coming up on his right. Rowan took a deep breath and forced his legs to give him another burst of speed, but the velocidragon darted ahead and cut him off. Rowan tried to dash around the snarling obstructing, but as he ran past a strong hand grabbed the back collar of the jacket.

He jerked to a stop as the breath was knocked out of him. Rowan immediately tried to wriggle out of his coat, but the pirate slid out of the saddle and threw him to the ground. His cheek hit the dirt with a grunt.

"Ok, kid," a voice said as more footsteps approached. "Don't move and you won't get hurt."

Rowan pushed himself up on his hands and knees and saw a rag-tag group of bandits surrounding him, armed to the teeth. His rings hung from his belt, begging to be used, but even he wasn't stupid enough to think he had a chance against a group this big.

One of the thugs approached him, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to his feet. "Give me your bag and keep your hands where I can see them."

Rowan pulled the strap off his shoulder an grumbled, "Geeze, you can get your own in Luin; it wasn't very expensive."

The pirate ignored him and opened up the bag. Meanwhile, Rowan held his hands at chest-level. In his pocket, he could feel the weight of the spare fishhooks he always meant to empty out of his pockets. If he could get his hands in his pockets without the pirates noticing… he could take the guy right in front of him by surprise… but then what would he do about the rest of the band? Besides, his left arm was weaker right now due to that damn sword in the tower.

The pirate with his bag looked up at him with disgust. "You have no money."

"Brilliant observation. You might also note that I don't have any valuables either. I know this is gonna sound pretty crazy, but it's almost like I'm a dirt poor fisherman with nothing worth stealing."

"Shut up." The pirate tossed the bag to someone else and turned to a man in three-pointed hat. "Oi, Captain, what do you think?"

The man stroked his goatee and said, "Search him. That person with him mysteriously vanished, so there might be more to this kid than it looks."

Another of the pirates approached him and grabbed his coat. "Hey, hey!" Rowan said, planting his right hand on the guy's torso and pushing back. "I only let _girls_ undress me, thank you very much."

He was ignored and his beloved brown coat was yanked off. Rowan wore that coat almost every day and seeing it patted down by a pirate's grubby hands almost made him feel violated. The pirate's hand emerged from his pocket with some fishhooks, a copper coin worth only one tenth of one Gald, and some lint.

The pirate flipped the coin in his hand. "Well, at least this won't be a complete bust."

"Aw, come on," Rowan said, rolling his eyes. "Seriously, that's my life's savings."

The jacket was shoved back in his hands and the pirate said, "Your coat stinks. It smells like fish."

"Really? I've never noticed." This actually wasn't sarcasm on Rowan's part; due to his lifestyle his nose had long ago become immune to smell of fish.

"Now what?" one of the pirates nearby asked. "I don't think we've ever tried to rob someone so poor…"

The man in the pointed hat stepped forward and looked down at Rowan. "Not even any of his clothes would be worth any money. What a waste. Where did you flying friend go off to?"

"I don't know," Rowan said.

"You were travelling together and didn't arrange a rendezvous point?"

Rowan wasn't going to admit that he didn't know what a 'rendezvous' was. It probably meant something like a meeting point. In which case, why not just say 'meeting point'? It was just like Kratos, using fancy long words when a normal one would work just as well just to sound smart. "The jerk I was travelling with bailed out on me the second he saw you guys to save his own skin. I have no clue where he went."

The captain sighed. "Well aren't you useless. You know, people travelling aren't supposed to have so few supplies. You'd better hope you find your friend again, because you're gonna get killed out here."

"Thanks for the advice," Rowan said.

The captain turned to the rest of his crew. "We're heading out. Tie the kid up so he doesn't follow us."

"Hey, what?" Before he could lodge further protests, someone grabbed his arms and the next thing he knew he his hands were bound behind his back. Around him, the pirates were mounting their velocidragons again and beginning to head back to their caravan.

"Useless peasant," the pirate holding him grumbled. "Remind me not to rob you next time."

Rowan opened his mouth to reply, but then the pirate whacked him in the back of the head and threw him to the ground. His scathing reply was lost in a torrent of swearing and curses and frantic spitting to get grass out of his mouth.

By the time he'd managed to roll around on his back and sit up, the pirates were almost out of sight. "Get back here you bastards! I'll kill you for that! Stop running away like some rotten cowards!"

The only answer he got was the softly rustling grass in the night breeze.

Rowan took deep breaths, trying not to let his anger get the better of him. If he gave in to the boiling rage threatening to spill over, he'd never untie his hands because he'd be too busy flailing about in rage. His shoulders rose and fell heavily as he knelt in the dirt at the side of the road. A pebble dug into his knee, but he was much too busy trying to get his hands untied to worry about that. And then once he got his hands free, he'd track the pirates down and systematically murder every single one of them slowly and painfully.

A flutter of movement caught his eye, and then a small white and green bird landed on the road in front of him. It cocked its head and stared up at him with its beady black eyes.

"Hey… aren't you Kratos' bird? Noishe, right?"

The bird flew behind him and landed on his wrists. Rowan craned his neck to look over his shoulder and saw the little bird determinedly pecking at the ropes binding him.

"Hey, thanks. You're pretty smart for a bird, aren't you?"

Noishe twittered in response. Rowan wondered if Kratos had put Noishe through some sort of rigid training program to make him a super smart canary, but then it was hard to picture Kratos as the kind of guy to put that much effort into a bird.

A minute later, the rope fell away and Rowan stood up and stretched his arms. Noishe landed on his shoulder and chirped in triumph. "Thanks a lot, little bird. Do you suppose you could show me where Kratos and Spirit went?"

Noishe tweeted and took off across the prairie, and Rowan assumed he was supposed to follow. He followed the bird, hoping to meet up with Spirit soon. As he walked, he reached into the small pocket on his shirt partially hidden by his belt. His fingers ran over the smooth cloth of the purse he'd nicked from the pirate when he'd shoved him.

Rowan grinned – this meeting hadn't been a total waste after all, even if he had lost his bag. The money in this pouch could probably buy five of those bags, though, so he wasn't too concerned. And at least he still had his jacket.

* * *

"Oh, no," Colette said with wide eyes. "I feel bad for Rowan."

"He was fine, Colette," Lloyd said, patting her on her shoulder. "And considering he stole their money, it turned out to be a good thing!"

"Hm, I guess so," Colette said. "I'm very glad we don't have pirates around anymore."

"Yeah, Desians were trouble enough." Beside them, a thin brook babbled over the rocks on its way to the coast. It was a pretty warm and sticky day, and Lloyd wondered if Kratos would object to them taking a break to splash around in it for a couple minutes.

"But then," Colette said, "I bet the pirate he stole from is going to get in trouble with his captain. I kind of feel bad for him. And stealing is mean."

Lloyd tilted his head in thought. "Hm…. I think it's ok to steal from pirates. After all, he probably stole it from someone else in the first place!"

"Oh, if you think so then ok, Lloyd."

"…I miss Noishe," Lloyd said with a frown. It had been bugging him for a while, but thinking about how Noishe had come to Rowan's rescue really highlighted how much he missed his loyal dog. Who wasn't really a dog and had once been a canary.

"You'll see him again soon, Lloyd," Colette said. "I can picture him right now, sitting in his little house and waiting patiently for you to come home. He'll wait for you forever, so you don't have to worry about taking too long."

Lloyd smiled. He couldn't help it; Colette just had a way of bringing a smile to his face no matter how sad he was. "You're right. Thanks, Colette."

* * *

It was approaching dawn when Rowan finally appeared on the horizon. Despite himself, Kratos couldn't help but feel a bit of relief. Even if Rowan was terribly annoying and got on his nerves, he was still a good kid and didn't deserve to be killed by pirates. Admittedly, it _would_ make his job that much easier.

He heard a small gasp and saw Spiritua sit up straight as a smile crossed her face. Her fever had broken and within a few hours she'd be up to travelling again. It was actually kind of sweet how she perked up and immediately looked much less miserable as soon as she saw her brother. Rowan seemed to have a very strong and positive influence on her. Perhaps having Rowan with them would actually make the job easier.

Kratos offered Rowan a curt nod when he reached them, which Rowan returned. Then he knelt in front of Spiritua and smiled. "You look much better, Spirit. I'm glad."

She leaned forward and hugged him, burying her face in his shoulder.

Rowan patted her shoulder. "Sorry. I'll try not to scare you again."

"We're going to rest for a bit," Kratos said. "The Chosen and I have been awake waiting for you, and you've been up nearly all night now. We'll rest for a couple hours and then continue on our way to the Balacruf Mausoleum."

Rowan nodded and looked up. "Great. I'm actually about to pass out right now. Oh, um, I lost my bag. Can you lend me a blanket?" He fell back into the grass, and by the time Kratos had searched through his bag to pull out his own blanket, Rowan was already asleep.

Kratos tossed his blanket down on the sleeping boy, while Spiritua also laid back on her blanket to sleep for a few more hours. With the kids asleep, Kratos was left to stay awake and keep watch. He sat down next to them as Noishe flew over and landed by his shoe, matching his gaze.

"Thank you for your help, Noishe."

_Chirp_.

"You really are an exceptional bird."

_Chirp_!

"Agreeing so heartily might come across as arrogant to some."

_Tweet_.

Kratos sighed and buried his face in his hands. "You're right. Look at me, talking to a canary. The trouble with being immortal is that you end up with very few friends still alive."


	6. Gonna Get Himself Killed

So... I recently started playing Pokemon for the first time in 7 years. Which is why this chapter took me a while to write. It was distracting. Sorry! Blame Pokemon.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Gonna Get Himself Killed**

At around noon, Kratos, Lloyd, and Colette stopped for lunch. When they were finished eating, Lloyd sprawled out on the grass and yawned. He was exhausted from all the walking they'd been doing. By the end of their journey, they'd been flying everywhere on Rheairds so he had gotten out of practice for such long walks. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to keep all their Rheairds. Yuan had taken most of them back, leaving two with Zelos and Sheena because they needed to travel a lot for political reasons. Lloyd was pretty sure Regal had bought a couple of them out of his own pocket, too.

"Hey, Dad," Lloyd said as Kratos re-packed his bag after lunch.

"What is it, Lloyd?"

"I was just wondering. The Cardinals we fought – like Kvar and Magnius and them – weren't alive yet back during the story, right?"

"No, Lloyd," Kratos said. "Half-elves cannot live for four thousand years."

"I know that," Lloyd grumbled. "I was just checking. So who were the Cardinals then?"

"Hm…" Kratos said. "At the time, I believe it was… Dagen at the Cleopolica Ranch, Veris from the region now called Palmacosta – the city we know as Palmacosta wasn't consolidated until about two thousand years ago; it was known at the Palm Coast until then – Diaf in Iselia – or it might have been Liebert; I can't remember clearly. The Remote Island ranch was… Pagoma, I believe."

Lloyd raised his head, partly to get a better look at Kratos and partly because the grass was tickling his neck. "Were any of them as bad as the monsters we faced?"

Kratos smiled grimly. "I don't think I could say any of them were any better than the Cardinals you took down. Dagen was the harshest, and the most feared for raw brutality. Pagoma was the more manipulative one. He occasionally allowed prisoners to escape just because it amused him to see them get caught again after tasting freedom."

Lloyd frowned. "It's a good thing we brought Cruxis down. Because if we had just defeated Magnius and Kvar and then regenerated the world, they would just have been replaced in Tethe'alla with two other guys just as bad."

"Most likely."

"Did you guys run into any trouble with the Desians on your journey?"

"Funny you should mention that, actually…"

* * *

"You stole from the bandits?" Kratos refused to call them pirates. They weren't pirates, they were just bandits. There was no reason to call them pirates except for tradition, and Kratos wasn't part of this culture so he had no reason to subscribe to their tradition.

"Sure did," Rowan said with a smug grin. "The bastard never even noticed that I nicked it." He tossed the coin pouch in the air and caught it in his hand, the coins inside clinking against each other.

Kratos closed his eyes and rubbed his temple. He took a deep breath, reminding himself that getting angry wouldn't help matters at all. "Did it not occur to you that inspiring their wrath would not be a good idea?"

"Who cares if they're mad?" Rowan said. "They're pirates. They deserve to be robbed."

"It's not a question of whether they deserved it. It's possible they could hold a grudge and try to reclaim what you've stolen, with interest."

Rowan snorted. "Aw, come on. They're not going to hunt down one person all across Cleopolica just to get back a thousand Gald."

"You had better hope they don't."

Spiritua froze in place, grabbed the sleeve of Rowan's shirt and pointed ahead. Kratos and Rowan followed her gaze, and Kratos immediately saw what she had noticed. On the horizon he could make out the blurred forms of a battle, and not that he concentrated he could distantly hear the shouts and clang of weapons.

"What's going on?" Rowan asked, holding his hand over his eyes to try and get a better look. "Who's fighting who and why?

"I can't tell from here," Kratos said. "Let's get closer, but not close enough that the combatants notice us."

The battle was taking place around the crossroads, where the road to Cleopolica split off towards the human ranch. Kratos led the kids forward slowly, never taking his eyes off the battle. As soon as they got close enough to see what this was all about, they'd detour to the east and avoid the skirmish.

"Desians," Spiritua said, stopping short.

Kratos nodded as he stared ahead, able to make out the distinctive Desian uniforms. He couldn't tell for certain who it was that they were fighting, but he guessed they were from Cleopolica. They wore uniforms, so it wasn't an untrained civilian force at the least. "Let's move on," Kratos said. "We needed to start heading east around now anyway."

"We're just going to walk away?" Rowan asked. "But what about the Desians?"

"What about them?" Kratos asked.

"Those people are fighting against the Desians! This is great – people are finally taking a stand against those monsters! We should help them."

"I am certain they're doing fine on their own."

"I want to fight the Desians," Rowan said, drawing his rings. "I want a rematch."

"No," Kratos said in as firm a voice as he could manage. "Fighting the Desians will accomplish nothing but getting yourself killed."

"I'll be fine," Rowan said. "Come on, we have to help them! Don't tell me you're afraid."

Kratos could tell that Rowan was trying to bait him, but he wasn't going to fall for it. "No. You're being an idiot."

"But I have to try. If these people are fighting the Desians and making a difference then I want to be a part of that. I'm not asking you and Spirit to follow me if you don't want to, but just give me this chance."

"I cannot approve of this foolishness."

"I'm not looking for your approval. Wait for me here." Rowan took off, running towards the battle.

"Rowan!" Kratos shouted, trying to figure out when he'd lost control of the conversation. "Get back here!"

"Don't bother," Spiritua said softly. "He's made up his mind. You can't stop him."

Kratos growled in frustration. Rowan would most likely get himself killed, and if Rowan died, Spiritua would be a wreck. But Rowan had already joined the battle and disappeared into the fighting, so there wasn't much he could do. He could join the battle and bring Rowan back, but finding one boy in the chaos of the fight would be next to impossible. Besides which, even the strongest fighter could get unlucky in a battle. If he got himself killed trying to rescue Rowan, Spiritua would be stranded and vulnerable and then the world regeneration would fail.

"Come," Kratos said to Spiritua. "We will sit and wait out the battle and hope for the best."

There were a couple bushes close to the road, which Kratos led Spiritua to. She never took her eyes off the battle as she sat with her knees pulled up to her chin. From where they were, they could easily hear the shouts and clash of weapons.

"Do you think the humans will win?"

Kratos looked up when Spiritua finally spoke after a long period of sitting in silence. "I don't know. Desians are very formidable, but there is the possibility that the humans may come out on top in this battle."

Spiritua watched the chaos in the distance with a hard frown. "Rowan will be ok."

Kratos had his doubts, but telling Spiritua her brother was probably going to get killed wasn't going to help anything. As they waited, Kratos tried to decide if he was hoping Rowan would be ok or not. As much as it would make Spiritua harder to deal with, it would be nice to not have to put up with the kid anymore. Rowan contributed nothing to the group but complications.

Ok, so he gotten the third riddle, but answering one riddle right did not make up for being a pain in the neck.

But as much as Rowan annoyed Kratos, he couldn't say he actually hoped the kid died. He wasn't human anymore and had been living off the planet for a hundred years, but he wasn't so cut off that he could honestly wish death upon a kid.

"I think it's over," Spiritua said, standing up.

Kratos raised his head as well and saw that most of the chaotic movement was over. Now, the survivors picked through the field to find those who were still living, while the survivors of the losing force were rounded up as prisoners of war. From where they sat, Kratos couldn't tell if the Desians had won or if it was the humans who had come out on top. The figures in the distance started to leave, so now he waited expectantly to see if they'd turn west towards the ranch or south back to Cleopolica.

He got to his feet and stood next to Spiritua, who was anxiously fiddling her thumbs and staring at the soldiers. They began to move…

…and took the western road.

Kratos swore. The Desians had won the battle and were heading home with fresh prisoners in tow. Rowan was now either dead, or a prisoner in the human ranch. Kratos wasn't sure which one was worse.

Without a word, Spiritua took off. The hem of her purple dress fluttered around her knees as she sprinted down the road to the battlefield, and Kratos wasted no time in following her.

When they reached the battlefield, Kratos was hit with the strangest feeling of nostalgia. His nose was filled with the reek of blood and freshly decaying bodies, and overhead scavenger birds were already circling. Abandoned weapons lay scattered between fallen soldiers, both human and Desian alike. Kratos hadn't seen carnage like this since the Kharlan War, and it reminded him forcibly of those battles around Meltokio so long ago.

"Rowan!" Spiritua wandered through the field, stepping lightly over bodies and shouting her brother's name. "Rowan!"

Kratos doubted that there were many survivors still lying here. The wounded would have been taken back to the ranch either to be treated or thrown in prison. Spiritua still had hope, though, and called his name over and over. With every shout, her voice became steadily more panicked and desperate.

"Chosen," Kratos called, following her. He almost stepped on somebody's arm, and then noticed that the arm was no longer attached to its body. "We should go."

"He's here somewhere," she insisted. "Rowan!"

Kratos sighed. It would probably be better to let her search and reach the conclusion that Rowan was gone on her on, because she certainly wasn't going to listen to him. Kratos just hoped this situation could be resolved without Spiritua having to find his body.

Kratos followed Spiritua a few yards behind, carefully picking his way through and trying not to get blood on his white pants. It didn't take long to cover the entire battlefield. After about fifteen minutes, Spiritua stopped and hugged herself, staring down at a path of open grass below her feet.

Kratos could barely hear her as she said, "I… I can't find him."

Kratos was marginally surprised to find that he actually felt relief at this. If Rowan wasn't here, then at least he wasn't dead. He was just about to step over a body when a hand clenched around his ankle.

He was so surprised he almost jumped and instinctively drew his sword. It wasn't until his sword was in the body's face that he registered that the man in question was a Cleopolican and not a Desian and that he was staring at him with pained eyes.

"Who… are you?" the man asked in a hoarse voice.

Kratos sheathed his sword and crouched next to the man. He was covered in cuts and scrapes and his dirty blonde hair was matted with blood. He wore a dented and scratched bronze breastplate, and down on his waist just below it was a large bloodstain, probably indicative of a stab wound to his abdomen. The man probably didn't have much longer to live.

"My name is Kratos Aurion." Spiritua had noticed him and hurried over to the man's other side. Kratos glanced at her and added, "And this is Spiritua Praetor."

"Kratos," Spiritua said softly, "Can you use your Apple Gels on him?"

Kratos frowned. He didn't know for sure if putting on Apple Gel on the man's wound would be enough, and it would be a waste to use them on someone who was going to die anyway.

"No," the man groaned. "Save my men first."

Kratos hesitated and looked around at the still field. He didn't know how to break the news gently. "I'm afraid you're the only survivor we've found. Any others have been taken by the Desians."

The man closed his eyes in defeat and Kratos could see how he practically deflated at that news.

"Please, Kratos," Spiritua said, meeting his eyes. "I want to save him."

Kratos sighed, but conceded. He wasn't completely heartless. From his bag, he pulled out one of his Apple Gels. "Chosen, please remove his breastplate."

Spiritua nodded and undid the buckles at his shoulders with trembling hands. When she pulled the breastplate away, the bottom of it was sticky with blood.

Meanwhile, the man opened his eyes again. "Chosen? The – the Chosen of Mana?"

Spiritua nodded as Kratos lifted the man's shirt and applied the gel. "That's right," she said.

The man smiled. "Wouldn't you know it. Saved by the Chosen herself. How… poetic."

As the gel was absorbed by the skin, the wound closed. It was hard to tell because his waist was still covered with blood, but his breathing visibly slowed down as the pain subsided. "Th-thank you," he gasped.

He tried to sit up, and Kratos reached out to help support him. "Do you have any other wounds?"

"No," he replied, his voice stronger now. "A few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious."

"What is your name?" Kratos asked.

He took a few deep breaths and clutched his side. "It's Captain Pierce Asgard, commander of the Cleopolica militia. And you," he looked at Spiritua, "are the Chosen of Mana?"

She nodded. "Yes. I am. Are you a believer?"

He nodded once. "That's right."

"Captain Asgard," Kratos said, "what was your force attempting to do?"

"Our plan was to raid the ranch and rescue captured Cleopolican citizens." His brow furrowed in anger. "Though it would appear that now most of my troops need to be rescued as well."

"Will you be able to make it back to Cleopolica?" Kratos asked.

Pierce's frown deepened. "I can't go back. I led these men here and I would rather die than go back to Cleopolica without them."

"I see," Kratos said. "Well then, the road to the ranch is that way. You're welcome to march up there and get yourself killed." And after they'd wasted an Apple Gel on him, too. Kratos couldn't help but feel like Pierce was being ungrateful.

"I want to go with you."

Both Kratos and Pierce slowly turned their heads to Spiritua, and Kratos was actually somewhat terrified to see the determined expression on her face. Her jaw was set and her eyes were steeled and for the first time Kratos saw a very strong resemblance to her brother. It was the same look Rowan had worn before running off into the battle like a blundering idiot.

"Out of the question," Kratos said. "Chosen, your life is far too valuable to risk in such a senseless manner."

Spiritua slowly shook her head. "Rescuing my brother is not senseless."

Pierce frowned. "I must agree with Kratos, Chosen. I couldn't allow myself to put your life in danger."

Spiritua was silent as she stared at the ground, sulking. Kratos was beginning to think they'd convinced her not to be an idiot, but then she said, "If you won't help me, I'll go on my own."

She stood up, straightened her dress, and spun around with a whirl of her hair. Without another word, she began picking her way across the battlefield towards the western road. "Chosen!" Kratos called, starting to follow her. "Come back this instant!"

Spiritua didn't answer. There was a shuffle behind him as Pierce forced himself to his feet. He wavered for a few seconds, but grabbed an abandoned spear to lean on and started following.

Kratos caught up with Spiritua and put his hand on her shoulder, pulling her to a stop. "Chosen, please stop."

Spiritua turned around and glared up at Kratos. There was so much power coming from what was usually a very sweet and passive gaze that it nearly took him aback.

Kratos took a deep breath. This was a delicate situation and he needed to remain calm. "I understand that you are very upset about what has happened to your brother, but you must know that your chances of saving him this way are very slim. If you really want to help him, you should continue the journey to regenerate the world and seal away the Desians." Kratos knew that that wouldn't actually work. When the Desians shifted their operations to Tethe'alla, they would hardly release all their current prisoners.

Spiritua smiled, but it was very sad and didn't reach her eyes. "I know it's foolish. But I won't go on this journey without him. He always protects me, so now I have to protect him."

Kratos had only known her for a few days, but even he was beginning to pick up on her silent communication and the look in her eyes said very clearly that no amount of convincing could talk her into following him, and no amount of strength would get her to stop trying to fight back if he tried to drag her to Balacruf by force.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a second. "There is no way I can allow a single young girl to march headlong into a human ranch."

Her gaze narrowed in anger.

"If you're going to do something spectacularly stupid, you might as well be smart about it. I'm going with you."

Spiritua's glare broke into a smile. Meanwhile, Pierce had caught up with them and stood beside Kratos, breathing heavily and clutching his spear with one hand and his wound with the other.

"Captain Asgard," Kratos said, turning to him, "are you any good at impossible schemes?"

Pierce raised an eyebrow. "I planned an attack on the Cleopolica ranch, if that's what you're asking."

"Because we need to figure out how an angel, a wounded soldier, and a little girl can break into the ranch, rescue a captured battalion and one stupid boy, and get out again without being killed."

Pierce frowned. "I don't think I'm quite that mad enough."

* * *

"What in the world is that?"

Lloyd, who had been staring at Kratos' face with such rapt attention that he nearly tripped, tore his eyes away to see what was coming towards them. He understood why it had startled Kratos enough to interrupt the flow of the story.

Coming towards them was what looked for all the world like a giant pink disembodied cat's head, attached to a wagon being pulled by a velocidragon covered in pink and blue streamers, with a giant pink paw attached to the side of the wagon raised into the air that bobbed up and down as the wagon trundled along.

Colette gasped. "It's so cute!"

On the road around the demented wagon were people dressed in bright pink cat suits. Lloyd recognized them now as the Katz, but he'd never seen them on the move like this before. As the feline caravan drew nearer, Lloyd was able to tell that the giant cat head was made of papier-mâché.

When Lloyd, Colette, and Kratos drew level with the Katz, both parties came to a stop. The lead Kat waved excitedly and said, "Hello, travellers! Can the Katz Exploration Corps be of service to you today?"

Lloyd and Kratos shared a dubious look while Colette clapped and smiled giddily as the giant cat's paw waved up and down.

"Er…" Lloyd said. "What kind of services do you offer?"

"Oh, we have a wide variety of things we can do! We go on quests to find things for you and we sell rare items that you can use to personalize your weapons."

"Huh," Lloyd said. "Well, I don't think we need any of that kind of thing. Hey, wait, can you guys send messages?"

The lead Kat stared at him blankly for a second, and then turned around to converse with a few of the other Katz. Their fake tails bobbed as they moved, which seemed it be entertaining Colette greatly.

Kratos looked down at Lloyd. "What kind of message were you thinking of sending?"

Lloyd shrugged. "Well, it's not super important, but I thought we could contact Regal and tell him we'll be coming through Altamira soon. Just so he knows to expect us, you know?"

Kratos nodded. "I'm sure he wouldn't be adverse to a surprise visit, but telling him to expect us would indeed be polite."

The Katz turned back around with big smiles. "Of course we can send messages! We have the best carrier pigeons around!"

"Awesome!" Lloyd said. "Hey, Dad, do you have any paper I can write on?"

Kratos rolled his eyes. "Why didn't you bring your own supplies for once?"

Lloyd gave him puppy-dog eyes.

"Yes, I have some," he grumbled, reaching into his bag and pulling out a piece of paper and a pencil.

"Thanks, Dad!" He sat down crossed-legged on the road, using his knee to write on.

_Dear Regal (and Presea too!)_

_Hi, it's Lloyd. Kratos, Colette and me are one our way to the Tower of Salvation and that means we're gonna pass through Altamira. We'll probably get there in a few days. Can you get us a room in that super nice hotel? The last time we stayed there it was really fun! We have to cross the mountains to get to Altamira, so that's gonna be a pain. It'll be really great to see you again. _

_-Lloyd_

"Ok, I'm done." He stood up and started to hand the paper to the Kat, who quickly folded it and put it into an envelope. After Lloyd wrote the address on the envelope, the Kat handed it off to another cat-suited man who carried it back to the wagon.

"Thank you very much!" the Kat said. "That will be one thousand Gald, please!"

Lloyd made a small choking sound. "One thousand? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Oh, no," the Kat said. "No price is too high to maintain relationships with written communication."

"Uh, Dad?" Lloyd said, looking up at him and trying the puppy-dog eyes again. "Could you lend me a thousand Gald?"

Kratos sighed. "Lloyd, why should I spend my own money on your letter?"

Lloyd scowled. "Oh, come on. What are you going to use it for in space?"

Kratos' expression was frozen for a moment, and then he finally said "I suppose you're right." He fished the money out of his bag and handed it over to the Kat.

"Thank you very much," the Kat said. "Your letter will reach your friend in a couple days."

"We should be going," Kratos said. "We have a lot of ground to cover."

"Are you guys going to cross the mountains?" another Kat asked as they started to walk past the caravan.

"That's right," Colette said. "We're heading to the western continent."

"Well, be careful," the Kat said. "There's been a lot of storms up in the mountains lately. They're pretty dangerous right now."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Kratos said, with an edge to his voice that made it obvious he was anxious to get going.

"Thanks for the tip," Lloyd said as he and Colette followed Kratos. Once the Katz were behind them, he said to Kratos, "Do you think the mountains are really that bad?"

Kratos didn't answer right away, and when he did his eyes were locked on the distant outlines of the mountains. "I imagine it will be more trying than the easy walk we're having now, but you shouldn't be too concerned."

"Kratos," Colette said, "please go back to the story. I'm really worried about what happened to Rowan."

Kratos nodded. "Yes. Our experiences at the Cleopolica ranch were certainly some of the more challenging ones during the course of the journey. Spiritua, Captain Asgard, and I headed towards the ranch. Meanwhile, Rowan was imprisoned inside…"


	7. Gathering Allies

**Chapter Seven: Gathering Allies**

Rowan was suffering from a terrible injury. Sure, his muscles ached and he was covered in bruises and cuts of varying seriousness, but the worst injury was much deeper than that.

His pride had been severely wounded, and he didn't know if he would ever be able to face Kratos again. Kratos had told him that going into that battle was a bad idea, but Rowan had brushed him off and bragged that he'd be just fine. He really had thought that he'd be ok, too But then when he actually got to the battle, everything started happening at once and he hadn't even known who he was swinging his rings at half the time. It was as if everything about the battle had conspired together just to rub it into his face that when it came right down to it, he was a fisherman, not a warrior, and he had a long way to go if he had any hope of changing that.

And now he was here, in this rotten cell with all the other captured troops. He had been confused at first when they put one of those shiny blue rocks like Kratos had on his hand, because weren't they supposed to make people angels? But then Kratos' and Spirit's both had a fancy crest or whatever around it while his was on his bare flesh, so maybe that had something to do with it.

He heard movement from the other side of the cell, and looked over to see a young man regaining consciousness. Rowan had no idea who he was, but the rest of the soldiers started crowding around him as soon as they noticed he was coming to. The man sat up and put a hand on his blond head, then looked around at the gathered soldiers.

He frowned, then pointed at someone to his right. "You. Jackson. Give me a report."

Jackson sat up straight on his knees and saluted. "We're in the Cleopolica ranch, sir." He rambled off a quick recap of what had happened, covering their capture, being brought to the ranch and being fitted with the blue gems and finally getting thrown in a cell.

"I see," the blond man said, nodding slowly. "Where is Captain Asgard?"

No one volunteered an answer as the soldiers gave each other nervous looks. Some looked to the ground with a solemn expression.

"I understand," the man in charge said. "If he's not here, he's probably dead. From now until we get back to Cleopolica, I am your commanding officer."

Rowan raised an eyebrow at the kind of blind optimism that made him think they were going to get home one day. In Rowan's memory, no person had ever returned from the ranch. It also didn't help that the Cardinal, Dagen, had issued the warning years ago that if anyone _did_ manage to escape, their entire hometown would be destroyed.

"You." The blond man had walked over and stood over Rowan. "You're not one of us. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Rowan stood up, not about to be talked to while the other man was looming over him. "Rowan Praetor. I was in the area and saw the battle and wanted to help."

"That was pretty foolhardy."

Rowan scowled. "Yeah. I know. Forgive me for trying to help you guys."

The man grinned. "Heh, you're right." He stuck out his hand. "Lieutenant Ferris. I'd say nice to meet you, but I think it's safe to say that both of us would rather not be here."

"So what's your plan for getting out of here?"

"Ah… well… I don't know yet, to be honest. But I'm working on it."

"Of course." Rowan sighed crossed his arms as he leaned back against the wall.

Ferris frowned, as Rowan's pessimism was written clearly across his face. He looked like he was about to say something, but a clatter of metal distracted them and all eyes turned to the door, where a pair of Desians were unlocking the cell bars.

"Alright, you worms," one of the Desians said, "which one of you is the highest ranking?"

Ferris glanced around at the others for a second, and then stepped forward and in a steady voice he said, "I am."

The Desian stepped into the cell and grabbed Ferris' arm. "You're coming with us."

Ferris looked back and gave the soldiers a reassuring smile before he was dragged out into the hallway and out of sight. The cell door slammed shut behind him, and Rowan slid down that wall to sit down again.

"Great," someone muttered from across the room. "Now we've lost Captain Asgard _and_ the lieutenant."

"He isn't dead," someone else replied. "He'll be ok."

"We're all gonna die!" a third person said.

"Everybody shut up," yet another man said. "Wailing about like babies isn't going to help anyone."

There was a mumbled reply of, "Sorry, Second Lieutenant…"

Rowan sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. He felt useless just sitting here, but there was nothing he could do. And on top of that, he felt a tad bit guilty. After everything his dad had done to protect him when he was little, here he was, in a human ranch. Getting himself caught seemed like a poor way of repaying him.

* * *

"Lloyd what are you doing?"

"Huh?" Lloyd pulled his eyes away from the sky, where his gaze had been locked for the past ten minutes. "Oh. Well, I was thinking about the pigeon we sent. I mean, there are a lot of clouds up ahead over the mountains."

"I'm sure it will be fine," Kratos said. "Pigeons know how to fly in a storm."

"Oh no," Colette said. "That poor little guy. Imagine being all alone up in the mountains in a storm… I hope he's ok."

Kratos said, "I'm rather more concerned about wasting the Gald you spent sending that message."

Lloyd glowered at him. "_Dad_. Don't be so heartless."

Kratos muttered something that sounded a lot like, "It's just a pigeon…" but Lloyd didn't call him on it.

"Dad is right, Colette," Lloyd said, patting her shoulder. "I'm sure it will be just fine."

* * *

They were less than a day's walk from the ranch, and they still didn't have a plan. Spiritua led the way, her face locked in a determined expression. She didn't speak or slow down, and Kratos got the feeling that she'd keep blazing forward until they were at the gates of the ranch.

Behind her, Kratos walked with Pierce. Kratos had given Pierce another of his Apple Gels, figuring that they needed him to be in the best condition possible if they were going to pull something off. He still used the spear to help walk, but he was able to keep up with Spiritua's fast pace and his face was no longer constricted by pain with every step he took.

Kratos was busy trying to figure out how he could get Spiritua and Pierce to sit this out and let him go in on his own. Once in, he could hopefully simply order Dagen to release Rowan and the Cleopolican soldiers. From what he knew about Dagen, however, even if he could get in on his own, getting mercy out of the Cardinal would be like trying to squeeze water from a brick.

"So…" Pierce said after a long bout of silence. "Where are you from?"

Spiritua didn't look back, so Kratos took it upon himself to answer. "The Chosen is from Luin. I am an angel and come from the holy city."

Pierce did a double take and looked over at Kratos. "An angel, you say? Interesting. So how did you-"

Kratos put his hand up to halt him and turned around to scan the road. "We're being followed."

Spiritua evidently was listening, because she stopped and turned around to see what Kratos had spotted. Pierce looked back as well, and all three of them stood still for a minute to try and make out who it was. Kratos narrowed his eyes and as the figures came closer he was able to make out the outline of a handful of velocidragon riders. Velocidragons were the most popular mount in Sylvarant, but they were rather expensive and not many common people had them. Based on past experience, Kratos had a sinking feeling he knew what they were dealing with.

"Bandits," he said. Either they just happened to be unlucky enough to run into bandits twice within a couple days, or the bandits had purposefully followed them, probably because that idiot Rowan had decided to steal from them. "But how did they manage to track us?"

Pierce raised his eyebrow. "Have you had a run-in with them previously?"

Kratos nodded. "Yes, and it ended in the Chosen's brother trying to be smart and robbing them."

"Ah." Pierce nodded slowly. "Yes, I can see why they would have a gripe with that. As for how they tracked you, velocidragons have a fantastic sense of smell."

"There's no point in running," Kratos said. "With their mounts they can run much farther without tiring." They could fly, but carrying Pierce would be difficult and risk re-opening his wound. Kratos was willing to leave him to die if it meant saving Spiritua's life, but she would never go for that. And besides, he was pretty sure that now that Spiritua wasn't helplessly sick, he could handle fighting them. "We'll keep walking as we have been. When they get close enough to cause trouble, I'll deal with them."

"I'm afraid I won't be much use in a fight," Pierce said. "Can you handle them on your own?"

Kratos nodded. "It'll be fine."

They started walking again, though everyone kept glancing back every couple minutes to see how quickly the bandits were gaining on them. At their current rate, they'd probably catch up within ten minutes. Kratos casually drew his sword, ready for a fight. He looked over to see Pierce doing the same, though Kratos withheld telling him not to bother. As long as you were using a spear as a makeshift crutch, you shouldn't be trying to fight.

Before long, the footsteps of the approaching velocidragons reached Kratos' ears and his grip tightened on his sword. When he could hear the bandits coming just close enough, he whipped out his wings and whirled around, bracing his sword.

He narrowed his eyes and glared at the leader in a tricorn hat. "Stay back, brigands, or risk receiving the might of the heavens."

There were five pirates, and they pulled to a halt as soon as Kratos confront them. It would be difficult to fight all five of them, but if he could use magic, he could at least knock them all down with one move.

"I knew it," the captain said. "I thought I recognized you from a distance, but those wings prove it. You're that boy's friend."

"And what of it?" He wasn't going to bother arguing over the precise use of the word 'friend'. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye as Spiritua came to stand behind him, drawing her bow and pointing an arrow at the captain with a steely eye.

"Whoa, now," the captain said. "Easy now, we don't want to fight you."

"Oh?" Kratos said. "Then why were you following us?"

"We're looking for your friend. That boy had the gall to steal from us, and we think he needs to be taught a lesson."

"Here's not here."

All eyes turned to the soft but firm voice coming from Kratos' elbow. Spiritua's jaw was set and her eyes were narrowed, and if not for the fact that no one else in the vicinity were capable of mimicking the voice of a young girl one might be confused on if she had even spoken at all.

The captain stroked his goatee. "I see. Where is he, then? Hiding from us like a coward?"

Spiritua's expression narrowed.

"Oh, I get it now," the pirate captain said. "He's been taken to the ranch, hasn't he? That's why you're heading there." He sighed and slumped his shoulders. "That's a shame. I was hoping to get revenge on him, but if he's in the ranch then his fate is already sealed."

Spirit shook her head. "We're going to get him back."

Kratos and Pierce both tried to wear expressions that could match Spiritua's for confidence, but neither of them were able to summon enough in the face of breaking into the ranch.

The captain laughed allowed at Spiritua's statement, though. He crossed his arms and dug his heels into the stirrups of the saddle, and said, "Girl, do you know that no one has ever escaped from that ranch? What makes you think you're going to succeed where countless others have failed?"

"Because he's my brother," she said simply. "And losing him is not an option."

There was a long silence as the group of realistic, cynical, adult men looked down at the sheer optimism of the young girl. She was still at the age where despite overwhelming evidence from the world, she held onto the belief that if she really wanted something hard enough, it would come true no matter what. She was so determined to rescue her brother it didn't even cross her mind that she would fail. Kratos would have found it touching, if it wouldn't probably lead them to their deaths.

"You know…" the captain said, stroking his goatee once more. "I think I'd like to help you."

Kratos raised an eyebrow as Pierce practically did a double take. "Excuse me?"

"No one has ever stolen from us before," the captain said. "And I don't like the idea of letting the boy get off just because he got himself captured by somebody else."

"Why would we accept your help," Kratos said, "when you're just going to kill him as soon as we rescue him."

"I don't want to _kill_ him," the captain said, rolling his eyes. "I do have standards. We're thieves, not murderers, and I try to avoid killing people. And besides… Desians do bad things, but they've crossed the line here by taking away this little girl's big brother. It's heartbreaking."

Kratos frowned slightly. The Desians had most certainly done things far worse than kidnap someone's brother, but they could use all the help they could get so he wasn't about to critique their reasons for helping. Still, they'd have to be careful. They could use the bandits' help to get in, but it was imperative that they ditch them before the bandits tried to break Rowan's kneecaps.

"No," Pierce said. "I will not ally myself with _pirates_." He spat out the last word like it was some filthy disease.

Kratos turned to Pierce and spoke in a low voice so that the bandits couldn't overhear. "I know it is unpleasant, but they could help."

"I've spent half my life trying to eradicate these barbarians from the Cleopolican region; I will not stoop myself so low as to work side by side with them."

"Then you may sit this out, because even if we refuse their offer, I doubt they will just go away now that they've decided they want to help. Furthermore, I am willing to take them up on their offer and five armed men are worth more to me than one injured soldier, so if this is beneath you, then by all means sit down and wait here."

Pierce held his gaze for a long moment, and then his shoulders slumped and he hung his head. "I understand."

Kratos nodded, and then looked up at the bandits. "Very well. We accept your offer of assistance."

Spiritua lowered her bow and put the arrow back in the quiver.

"Excellent," the captain said. "Then let us walk, and we will discuss our plan of attack."

* * *

"Oh man, Dad, you worked with pirates?"

"Yes, Lloyd. But as I've said, they weren't really 'pirates', they were-"

"Did they let you dress up as a pirate?"

"No. Because they weren't pirates. The only traditional 'pirate' garb they possessed was the captain's tricorn hat."

"Are they why you hate pirates so much?"

"…Where did you get the assumption that I hate pirates?"

"You know, when I got that pirate outfit from Aifread and you got that disappointed look on your face."

"No, Lloyd, I do not hate pirates. I was disappointed with your outfit because it was, to be frank, ridiculous."

"Oh…"

* * *

The population of the cell was steadily dwindling. Every fifteen minutes or so, Desians would come in and take another man out for unknown reasons, and those taken out had yet to return. Rowan didn't think they were being killed… at least he hoped not. It wouldn't make sense to kill them now after going through all the work of capturing them alive.

No one talked much. Some of the soldiers talked quietly on the other side of the cell, but Rowan sat by himself, arms wrapped around his knees, trying to decide what to do. He needed to get out of here so he could help Spirit, but how was he going to manage that? Spirit said that when she regenerated the world, the Desians would be sealed away and the prisoners released. He didn't know if he really believed that that would happen, but he supposed it was good to have hope. One thing was certain, though. He wasn't going to just roll over and die. Escape may not be viable, but he could do his part to make life difficult for the Desians.

The cell door opened and all conversation ceased as the pair of Desians entered. Rowan's arm was grabbed and he was pulled to his feet. As he followed the Desians out of the cell, he couldn't help but feel nervous. He had known this was coming eventually, but it was still nerve-wracking. After all, none of the other prisoners had been seen again. He calmed himself down by reminding himself why it made no sense to kill them, but his heart was still hammering when he was led into a small room and sat down on a hard chair.

There was a metal table in front of him, and across the table sat another Desian. He wasn't wearing a helmet and his uniform had more decorations on it, so Rowan assumed he was a high ranking office.

"Human Number M048," the Desian said with boredom, flipping through papers in a file in front of him. "I am Commander Vale. From now on, I control your life, so you would be advised to answer my questions truthfully and quickly. Do you understand?"

Rowan glared across the table at him. "Sorry, were you addressing me? Because my name is Rowan."

Vale's eyes narrowed and he smirked slightly. "So that's how it's going to be, then? Interesting. How many more troops are left behind in Cleopolica?"

Rowan shrugged. "A bunch?"

"Be more specific."

"Well, you see, there's more than twenty and after that I ran out of fingers and toes so I'm not sure."

"M-hm. Is there a plan to launch a second attack on the ranch should this one fail?"

Rowan shrugged. "I don't know; nobody tells me anything."

"Now that Captain Asgard is dead, what is the name of the man who will be his replacement?"

"Captain Jones." It was the first name that popped into his head. He didn't want to tell them that he wasn't really a solider like the rest of them, because that could lead to awkward questions about what he was doing here and might lead them to discovering that Spirit was the Chosen. If they knew she was nearby, they might try to kill her.

"Jones?" Vale raised an eyebrow. "And why is it that several of your comrades I've previously questioned told me that it was a one Lieutenant Aes?"

Rowan shrugged. "Maybe they're pulling your leg?"

"Are you answering these questions as truthfully as you can, M048?"

"Yes," Rowan replied in all honesty.

"I don't think you are. I think there's something you aren't telling me. Like why you were the only one brought in without a military uniform."

"I'm not a fan uniforms."

"I see." Vale shuffled his papers and rested them neatly on the table. "You know what I think? I think you're a useless kid who wandered into the middle of something he ought not be part of. None of your answers are truthful, and I would torture you for information if I thought you had any worth wasting effort to get."

Rowan scowled at him but had nothing to say that wouldn't just make things worse for himself.

Vale summoned the guards and once again Rowan felt hands grabbing him and pulling him from the room. They took him back down the corridor they had come through before, but instead of turning through the door on the right, they took the one on the left. The room they entered looked exactly like the one Rowan had been locked in before, complete with a cell full of Cleopolican soldiers.

They pushed him into the cell and slammed the door shut behind him. Rowan looked around the room and saw familiar faces, and he felt a bit of relief now that he knew for sure what had happened to all the prisoners taken out before him.

Rowan took a few steps forward, and then saw Lieutenant Ferris sitting on the ground and leaning against the wall. Rowan took a seat next to him and said, "Hey."

"Hey," Ferris muttered in response.

Rowan grimaced when he got a good look at Ferris. The lieutenant had blood running down his chin from his lip and his right eye was puffy and swollen. "Looks like you had a tougher interrogation than I did."

"Well," Ferris shifted his position, gingerly stretching his leg out, "unlike you, I actually know some information."

"Like what?" Rowan asked. "I don't get it. What do they want to know?"

"Stuff about Cleopolica's defenses. I think they're trying to anticipate if there's going to be another, larger attack, or they could be planning on attacking the city in response. Whatever the case, I certainly didn't tell them anything they wanted to know."

"I didn't either."

Ferris grinned at him. "No offense, kid, but you don't know anything they're interested in."

_Except I do_, Rowan thought as he looked down at his shoes. If they found out the Chosen was around, they might try to find and kill her. And no matter what, he couldn't let that happen. "Have you thought of a plan to get us out of here yet?"

Ferris sighed and wiped his chin, smearing blood across his hand. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back and said, "I'll work on it when I stop bleeding, ok?"

Rowan nodded with a frown even though he knew Ferris wasn't looking at him. "Ok."

* * *

A/N: By the way, I did a drawing of Pierce and Ferris a while ago. It's here: http:/ tinyurl .com/ 4lbqdhk (remove spaces)

No, I don't know why I did a drawing of two minor characters and not Rowan or Spiritua either.

Thank you for reading and reviewing!


	8. Infiltration

Yeah... I don't really have an excuse for this taking so long. Sorry.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Infiltration**

"Hey, Dad," Lloyd said as they set up camp for the night.

"Hm?" Kratos didn't look up from the smoking pile of kindling he was poking, trying to coax it into flames.

"Well, Pierce's name is Asgard, right?"

"That is correct."

"And the city is now called Asgard."

"Yes."

"So… when did they change the name and why did they decide to name it after him?"

"Well," Kratos said, finally looking up as a tongue of flame appeared and wrapped around one of the sticks, "they decided they needed a new name for the city, and he happened to be the most prominent celebrity on everyone's minds at the time."

"Why?" Colette asked. "Did he do something really nice for everyone?"

Kratos reached over and grabbed a larger log, gently setting in into the ring of stones. "He did the right thing in the right place at the right time. I don't think he ever got the chance to find out that they named the city after him, but I'm sure that if you had asked him about it, he'd say he didn't deserve such an honour."

Lloyd froze halfway through spearing a piece of meat on a stick. "Wait, what do you mean he never found out? I mean, he lived there, didn't he?"

Kratos hesitated. "You see, Lloyd…"

"Wait," Lloyd said, holding up his hand. He bit his lip for a second, then said, "I don't want to know. Well, I mean, I _do_ want to know, but I want you to get to that part of the story in the order that it's, y'know, supposed to be said."

Kratos nodded. "Of course. Lloyd!"

"What?" Lloyd looked up just as he started to stick his meat over the fire.

Kratos wore an exasperated expression. "Lloyd, how many times must I tell you to wait for the fire to heat up before you try to cook anything on it?"

Lloyd scowled and withdrew his stick. "But I'm hungry," he whined.

"Oh, excuse me, in that case I will politely inform the fire to skip the preliminaries and heat up right away then."

Colette gasped slightly and the other two turned to look at her. She stared at Kratos with wide eyes as she said, "Can you _do_ that?"

Kratos held her gaze for a very long time before finally saying, "…No. I cannot."

Her face fell. "Oh. I didn't think you really could…"

"How much longer until we can cook?" Lloyd asked, stomach rumbling as he stared into the bright red flames.

"Ten or fifteen minutes, most likely," Kratos said.

Lloyd sighed and looked forlornly at the meal on the end of his stick, wondering if the potential diseases he'd get if he ate it uncooked would really be that bad.

* * *

In another time and place, another campfire was burning. Kratos, Pierce, and Captain Rook of the pirates sat around the burning fire, discussing potential plans of attack. So far, they weren't having much luck. They'd been throwing ideas around for hours, but every proposed plan had gaping flaws.

Outside the ring of light from the fire, the rest of the bandits had set up camp off to the right. They had brought their wagons around and the motley crew had set up their own camp with considerably more alcohol and shouting than the fire with the three leaders. Off to the left sat Spiritua, sitting alone with an oil lamp. She had a piece of paper and a pencil and seemed to be doodling something.

"What if we tunnelled in?" Pierce said. By this point they were practically giving up and just throwing wild suggestions out there.

"Be a long tunnel," Rook said. "Dagen chopped down all the trees around the ranch to prevent that."

"Kratos," Pierce said, "you could fly us in one by one."

Kratos shook his head. "That would take too long. By the time enough of us got in there to make a difference, they would have noticed we're there."

Pierce sighed. "We've been at this for hours and I still don't see how this will be possible. We can get in, but from there I don't see how we're going to get ourselves and the prisoners out again. The only thing I can think of that would help is if we were somehow able to get in contact with those on the inside. Perhaps working from both sides would help. I know any of my men in there would follow my order unquestioningly."

"That would be ideal, yes," Kratos said. "But if we could stroll into the ranch to discuss this with them, we wouldn't be in this situation to begin with."

"I realize that." Frustration and anger was beginning to edge into his voice, both from the impossible situation before him and the fact that the pain-numbing effects of the Apple Gels were no doubt wearing off.

"Look," Rook said, leaning back and glancing over at his crew. "It's late. We're tired. Let's call it a night and maybe we'll think more clearly in the morning."

"I suppose we'll have to," Pierce said with a heavy sigh.

Rook got up and strolled over to his own crew, while Pierce contented with just laying back on the grass and closing his eyes, one hand resting on his wound. Kratos watched him for a moment, musing that it was a good thing they had run into the bandits because Pierce wouldn't be of any use in a fight.

"The bandits probably have Apple Gels," Kratos said. "Undoubtedly for a price, but for the sake of being useful for the mission, I would lend you the money."

"Not now," Pierce said without opening his eyes. "Don't waste it while I'm sleeping. I'll take one before we actually start whatever plan we come up with."

Kratos nodded even though Pierce wasn't even looking at him, and then turned to Spiritua. She was not yet at the point that she didn't sleep, so she should get some now before it was too late.

She didn't look up as he approached, staring intently at her paper. Kratos eyed it over her shoulder, seeing neatly drawn boxes with labeled arrows pointing every which way, along with scribbled notes all around the edges. Her handwriting was as tiny as it was untidy, so from this distance Kratos had no chance of making it out.

"Chosen, you should get some rest," he said, standing over her.

"I'm almost done." She kept her eyes glued to the paper, her pencil hovering at the bottom of a list.

Kratos frowned. "What precisely are you working on?"

"A plan."

At this, Kratos' attention was piqued. He crouched next to her to get a better look at her paper. Now that he looked closely, he recognized her drawings as a rough diagram of the ranch. "May I see?"

Spiritua handed her paper over to him and Kratos quickly scanned over her lines and lines of planning. He didn't know if she had been listening to the others throw ideas around, but from wherever her plan had come from, it was much more fleshed out and realistic than anything they had come up with.

"Chosen… this might actually work." There were still a lot of fuzzy details, but if they went off of the basics they could work the rest out in the morning.

She nodded. "I know."

He handed it back. "We'll go over it more tomorrow. For now, get some rest. We'll reach the ranch tomorrow and might enact the plan as soon as we get there."

Kratos headed back to the fire and pulled out his blanket to get ready for bed. As he was lying down, he heard soft footsteps and Spiritua put down her blanket next to his. He noticed, however, that she made no move to lie down. She just sat and pulled her knees to her chin, staring into the fire.

"Kratos?"

He propped himself up on his elbow and looked over at her. "Is something wrong, Chosen?"

"…Do angels eat?"

Kratos froze. In all the excitement of today he hadn't even thought about Spiritua's angelic transformation. "No," he finally said. "They don't."

"You do." Her voice was faintly accusative, and Kratos almost wished he could see her face clearly rather than just a fire-lit profile.

"I'm… special. I am a seraph, which is distinct from regular angels."

"Will I… ever eat again? When the angel transformation is over… will things be different?"

Kratos looked down at his blanket, not sure how to answer. He still didn't think it was time to tell her that she was going to die. He just said, "Yes. When the transformation is over, everything will be different." It was truthful enough. Or at least, it was the truth she needed to hear right now.

Spiritua was quiet for a long time. Kratos thought that the conversation was over and started lying down again, and he heard Spiritua say softly, "I miss Rowan."

Kratos looked up at her face and was startled to see that the light from the fire was reflected in tears welling up around her eyes. He felt a moment of panic, not knowing what to do. He could handle himself calmly and coolly in the face of an invading army, he didn't even sweat when confronted with battling the Summon Spirits themselves. But now he had a crying girl on his hands, and he was stumped.

Ok. He could deal with this. When he'd met Mithos, the boy had still been young enough to have the occasional breakdown. How had he handled it back then? Well, mostly he'd just passed it off to Martel. Ok, so how would Martel deal with this situation?

Kratos frowned, and then grimaced, and then looked around to see if anyone was watching. Then, he slowly moved closer to Spiritua and reached an arm around her shoulders. His arm was stiff and he didn't let it rest there comfortably. He was hyper-aware of every movement of Spiritua's shoulders through the fabric of his shirt, and he tried to gage if he was doing the right thing and if he should pull back. _Oh, Martel, why can't you be here right now?_

"I'm ok," Spiritua said. "You don't need to concern yourself with me."

"It's my job."

She shook her head. "It's Rowan's job. It always has been. He took over after Dad was taken. He made it ok."

"We'll rescue him," Kratos said, trying to sound more confident than he felt. "You came up with a very good plan."

Spiritua put her head down and wiped her tears away on her sleeve. More to herself than Kratos, she said, "It'll be ok. We're going to get him back. And I'll find Dad, too." She shifted, pushing Kratos' arm away and rubbing her eyes more vigorously. "I'm sorry. I'm alright. It's just… this is the first night he's ever not been with me."

Kratos nodded and moved back to his own blanket. "Goodnight, Chosen."

"Goodnight, Kratos."

* * *

"Lloyd, you can use the fire now."

"Yes!" Lloyd wasted no time in reaching his stick into the fire. "I'm starving." As the meat sizzled and crackled over the fire, Lloyd said, "Hey, Dad? You know, I don't think you're that bad with kids. At least… well, I don't remember my childhood very well, but from the things I do remember, I think you were a good dad."

Kratos didn't say anything because it was hard to speak with your breath caught in your throat. Lloyd didn't look up, concentrating closely on his dinner to make sure he didn't burn it.

When Kratos did finally speak, he said, "…Thank you, Lloyd."

* * *

There was no reason this part of the plan wouldn't work. This was the _least_ dangerous part of the mission. But that didn't mean Pierce wasn't worried about it. He sat on the bench of the wagon as it made its way towards the front gate. Pirates brought supplies to the Desians frequently, so there was no reason they would be suspicious about this wagon entering the ranch. They'd just wave it on through most likely.

But despite this rational thinking, Pierce was nervous as the wagon pulled up at the gate and a pair of Desians approached them. He wasn't wearing his military uniform, but his identity as a soldier was so ingrained in him that he felt certain the Desians would see it right away, too. Or perhaps he secretly hoped they would recognize him, because the idea of being mistaken for a pirate was disgusting to him.

"Name," the bored Desian said.

"Captain Rook," said the pirate sitting next to Pierce on the bench. "We've been here many times before."

The Desians flipped through a stack of papers in his hand. "Yep, you check out." He looked to his partner and said, "Open the gate."

With the crushing grating of gears, the large metal gate slowly slid open. Once it was open, Rook directed the velocidragons to move forward and pull the wagon into the yard. As they crossed the main path leading towards the buildings, Pierce looked around at the prisoners labouring in the yard. To his right he saw a row of prisoners digging a long trench, and he eyed them carefully to see if he recognized any of them. But he was moving and too far way to get a good look, so he couldn't be sure.

The wagon pulled around a corner and stopped in an alley between two buildings. Pierce climbed down off the bench while the rest of the pirates started unloading the wagon. A pair of Desians stood by the door at the side of the building overseeing the activity. As the pirates worked, Pierce snuck around the back of the wagon. There was another dirt road perpendicular to the one they were on now, and he made his way down it as quietly as he could.

When he reached the end of this path and hit another road parallel to the first, he glanced over his shoulder to make sure he hadn't been seen. From the sound of voices back at the wagon, the Desians weren't paying too much attention beyond their immediate task. Now he needed to find a Desian.

As if on cue, a lone Desian turned onto the road, whistling a tune. He carried a crate in his arms, apparently oblivious to the "The end up" stamp currently pointing to the ground. As the Desian passed him, Pierce sprung out from his side street with his sword drawn. In one move he crashed into the Desian and pushed him against the wall, causing him to drop his crate. The Desian shouted in alarm and reached for his whip.

Pierce raised his arm to make a killing blow, but the sudden upward movement pulled on his wound and he was paralyzed for a moment by a sudden stab of pain. The Desian took this chance to lunge forward and knock the sword from his arm, pushing him to the ground. Pierce grunted as he hit the ground and immediately reached for his sword, but the Desian got to it first.

Pierce took a second to swear about how the entire plan had fallen apart this early and once again wonder why the hell Kratos – who was _not_ currently healing from a potentially fatal wound – couldn't have done this. He didn't have time to think about too much else, though, because the Desian was coming back with the sword, ready to skewer him.

* * *

Fifteen minutes earlier, Kratos and Spiritua stood on the edge of the tree line. Between them and the ranch was a field filled with tree stumps and a cloudy sky up above. "I would much prefer you don't go in," Kratos said.

"If you leave me behind," Spiritua said simply with her eyes locked on the ranch, "I'll follow you the moment you're out of sight."

Kratos couldn't say he wasn't expecting that answer, but it still annoyed him. "I understand. In that case, stay close to me and don't put yourself into needless danger."

She nodded, and then they both pulled out their wings and pushed off from the ground. Spiritua still kept her eyes glued to the highest point on the ranch – an antenna on the roof – but now he had a feeling it was more to do with keeping her eyes away from the ground. She still looked awkward and uncomfortable in the air, but she wasn't panicking so it was improvement from her first flight.

They flew straight up out of the trees and into the cloud cover. Moisture clung to Kratos' face as they flew through the mist, hidden from sight by the ranch below. They flew straight until they were direction over the largest building of the ranch.

"Chosen," Kratos said, "we will have to descend quickly so that we do not draw attention to ourselves. The fastest way to descend is to pull your wings in and let gravity pull you down, and then pull them out again at the last second."

Spiritua stared at him like he was mad, then stared at the fifty foot drop to the roof, and then stared at him again with steadily increasing horror. "I…"

Kratos glanced back the way they had come. "If you don't want to do it, you can go back and wait for me in the trees. I would actually prefer that."

This, though, solidified her resolve. At his suggestion that she back down, her expression locked and she took a deep breath. Hugging herself, she let her wings disappear and dropped out of sight like a rock. Kratos felt a wave of both satisfaction and defeat, and then followed.

There were a couple seconds of wind rushing past his face and the roof hurtling towards him at a hundred miles per hour, and then he pulled his wings out a split second before hitting the roof. He stopped so suddenly it felt like he was moving back up again for a couple seconds before his feet finally touched the ground.

Spiritua landed a second after he did, her face bone white and her fingers clenched tightly around her arms.

"Are you alright?" Kratos asked.

She nodded.

"We should find a place to sit down," Kratos said as he looked across the roof. The roof was covered in gravel and the flat surface was broken up by smokestacks and vents. There were a couple shed-type structures that would lead into the building. Kratos and Spiritua's part of the plan wouldn't kick in for quite a while, but since neither of them were faced with the concerns of eating and other bodily functions that went with it, it was decided that they could wait on the roof for a while to keep an eye on things on the ground. It was important that Kratos not let himself get seen by too many Desians, because the chance of being recognized was too great. If any of the others realized that the Desians worked under him, the entire journey could be in jeopardy.

Kratos watched as the wagon Pierce and Rook were on entered the ranch and made its way to the unloading doors. He and Spiritua followed, both of them trying their best to make their footsteps as quiet as possible on the crunchy gravel. They reached the edge of the building in time to see Pierce tackle the Desian. Everything was going according to plan at first, until Pierce suddenly froze up and let the Desian get the better of him.

Kratos whipped his head to Spiritua and said, "Chosen-" but she was already drawing back the bow string, her eyes focused in on the Desian.

"Try not to damage the uniform," Kratos said. "We need that."

She didn't make any indication that she had heard him, but let the arrow fly. It shot through the air and went straight through the Desian's neck, catching both him and Pierce by surprise. The Desian crumpled over and Pierce slowly raised his head to scan the roofline. He caught sight of Kratos and Spiritua and gave her a curt nod of thanks before getting to his feet.

"Come on, Chosen," Kratos said. "Let's find some cover and wait for our cue."

* * *

Pierce would ordinarily be quite pleased to be rid of the pirate clothes, but exchanging them for a Desian uniform was hardly a step in the right direction. He knew that this was essential for the mission, but he couldn't help but feel that dressing as the enemy was distinctly dishonourable.

He dragged the Desian – now reduced to his boxers – back down the alley toward the wagon. The pirates were just starting to head out and had turned the wagon around. When they saw him, two of the pirates jumped off the wagon to take the body from him in order to dispose of it outside the ranch, where his disappearance wouldn't be found.

That done, Pierce went back to the other road and picked up the crate the Desian had been carrying. With the helmet now partially obscuring his face, he headed off in the direction of the main building. He didn't know where he was supposed to be delivering this box, but his goal right now was to find Lieutenant Ferris.

He reached the entrance to the main building and walked in straight past the Desians. They didn't even look at him as he walked confidently into the ranch, trying to put on an air that he knew where he was going.

"Hey, you!"

He froze, wondering what had given him away. Was it his sword? The Desian whose uniform he'd taken only had a whip, but there were Desians with swords and the uniforms were identical so he'd decided to risk bringing his weapon just in case. But even if he had his weapon, he was in a hallway surrounded by Desians, and as demonstrated earlier he wasn't exactly in the best shape to be fighting.

"What's taking you so long?" the Desian who'd spoken said, striding towards him with an angry look. "I ordered those parts to be brought up ten minutes ago; what, did you stop to sniff the roses on the way?"

"I apologize, sir," Pierce said, thanking Martel that he hadn't been discovered.

"Yeah, whatever. Follow me."

They headed to a staircase that Pierce was very sure would not lead to the prisoners, but he didn't have any choice. This man clearly outranked him, so refusing to follow him would only get him caught.

"Commander Vale," said another Desian they passed.

Vale paused and said, "Is there a problem?"

"Not a problem, sir. I just wanted to report that prisoners B124 through B213 have been taken for Exsphere processing so you won't see them in the yard."

"I see, thank you."

They continued on their way, up another flight of stairs and down a long hallway. At the end of the hallway they went through a door and into a large room filled with complicated machines Pierce had never seen before. Some of them whirred like there were tiny windmills inside, and tiny lights covered their surfaces, blinking in red and green and yellow. Cords naked out behind them and connected the contraptions, and in other places flat surfaces displayed lines of text as if mimicking paper.

"Put that box down next to the window," Vale said as he took a seat in a large cushioned chair in front of one of the screens. "Luckily for you, the computer technician is late too so those replacement parts aren't needed right this minute."

Pierce walked across the room to the wide bay windows that overlooked the front yard below. From up here, one had a good view of the entire ranch. He spotted a row of prisoners down below digging a trench and his heart leapt when he realized he recognized some of them. They were soldiers in his militia, so if they were down there, the lieutenant probably was, too.

Behind him, he heard Vale complaining to himself. "Damn computers… cause more problems than anything else. We were working just fine the old fashioned way until Lord Yuan showed up with all these fancy whirligigs."

Pierce stood by the window awaiting further orders. It had been many years since he had been promoted to captain, but he still remembered how to behave as a low-ranking foot soldier.

"You're dismissed," Vale said, not even looking up. He was busy pressing buttons on a board in front of him. As Pierce passed, he noted that each button had a different letter on it. He didn't know what any of these 'computer' things were, but the Desians certainly had a great deal of technological advancement.

In the hallway, another Desian was walking towards him. "Good morning," the Desian said.

Pierce nodded in return.

"Hey, are you the guy who brought up the parts I need?"

Pierce assumed this was the technician Vale had mentioned, so he nodded.

"When you get back to the store room, tell the guys there to stop keeping all the passwords written down. I know we're all still getting used to these computerized systems, but if passwords are just left lying around, that defeats the whole purpose of having them."

Pierce nodded. "Yes, I suppose it would."

The technician rolled his eyes. "You have no idea. I think even Vale has a cheat-sheet. I'm afraid to report this to Cardinal Dagen, though – this kind of thing could get people killed and some of my friends are doing it…"

"I'll spread the word."

"Yeah thanks. See ya." The technician made his way to the control room and Pierce hurried down the hall to the staircase.

He reached the yard without any further confrontations, and as casually as he could he made his way over to where the Cleopolican soldiers were working. With his helmet concealing most of his face he knew they wouldn't recognize him right away, which was good because he couldn't afford for them to react in surprise and give him away.

The prisoners didn't even look up as he strolled past them. They were digging a drainage ditch as far as he could tell, while on the other side of the yard another group were levelling the ground for a future construction project. They had only been here for a day, so they didn't yet have the sunken faces and dead eyes that the rest of the prisoners had. Pierce was determined to get his troops back before they lost all their muscles to the minimal rations supplied to them.

As he walked down the line, his anger grew and grew and so it was with relief when he finally saw Ferris. If it had taken any longer, he just might have snapped and done something stupid. As it was, he needed to talk to Ferris without the other Desians growing suspicious.

He bumped into Ferris, causing the man to stumble and drop his shovel.

"Hey, watch it!" Pierce shouted at him. "Don't get in my way you inferior being!"

Ferris just glared at him, and Pierce had known him long enough to recognize the fiery anger smouldering within.

"Hey!" came another voice, and Pierce looked down the row to see an auburn-haired kid he didn't recognize shouting at him. He bore a marked similarity to the Chosen, so he assumed this was the brother she was after. "You're the one who bumped into him, you bastard!"

Pierce directed his attention on Ferris, though, and said, "What did you say to me? How dare you speak to your superiors like that!"

Ferris was now looking both confused and alarmed as Pierce grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the line.

"I'll teach you to show some respect, you maggot!"

Ferris didn't fight as he was dragged across the yard. Along the way, some Desians looked up to see what was going on, but no one commented on what Pierce was doing. They rounded a corner of the building and came to a narrow strip of crab grass between the building and the fence.

Pierce released Ferris, who immediately stood tall and straightened his shoulders. "With all due respect, _sir_, I didn't say anything."

Pierce glanced around once more to make sure they were alone, then pulled his helmet off. "At ease, Lieutenant."

Ferris was visibly shocked, and nearly choked as he stammered, "C-Captain Asgard! You're alive!" Then his shock turned to confusion as he said, "But what in Origin's name are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you, of course. What is the condition of the troops?"

Ferris spoke as quickly as possible, his eyes darting to the edge of the building in fear of getting caught. He filled Pierce in on everything that had happened, and Pierce kept his face blank despite the fact that every word inspired more and more anger. When he was done, Pierce returned the favour and outlined everything that had happened since the battle, including an overview of their escape plan. Ferris looked about as happy about teaming up with pirates as Pierce was, but he didn't comment on it.

"We need to get the passwords," Pierce said when he was done. "Commander Vale and several others apparently keep a list of them on their person. I'll see if I can get hold of one of these lists, but it might be difficult. Anyone high-enough ranking to have complete access would also be recognizable enough that I couldn't impersonate them."

"Understood, sir. I'll get the passwords."

"I know I can count on you, Lieutenant." Pierce looked back towards the yard again and said, "We should wrap this up. Make sure you act like I beat you."

"I know, sir."

They started walking again, Pierce taking his arm and pretending to be guarding him while Ferris appropriated a limp and hung his head. Pierce had his helmet back on once they reached the trench and the other soldiers tried to hide their glares of malice.

"Also," Pierce muttered, "tell that kid that if he mouths off like that to a real Desian, he's going to get himself killed."

* * *

"I think that's all we have time for tonight," Kratos said, glancing up at the starry sky to see how late it was.

"What?" Lloyd said. "No, don't stop now!"

"It's late," Kratos said. "I'll tell you more in the morning."

"Don't worry, Lloyd," Colette said. "Having to wait just makes the suspense better!"

Lloyd crossed his arms and grumbled, "Stupid suspense…"


	9. On Your Mark, Get Set

**Chapter Nine: On Your Mark, Get Set...**

"I have good news."

The cell full of tired soldiers slowly raised their heads, staring at Lieutenant Ferris in confusion as the idea of 'good news' in the ranch was a totally alien concept. Rowan tended to agree with them, since after just one day of work in the ranch he was exhausted. He was used to working long hours, but shovelling was very different from fishing and he was exhausting muscles he wasn't used to using.

"Captain Asgard is alive."

This was met with small cheers from the group, though Rowan didn't share this excitement. He had no reason to care about some captain he'd never even met.

"How do you know?" someone asked.

"Because he's here," Ferris said. "The captain has infiltrated the ranch disguised as a Desian, along with the Chosen of Mana and an angel."

At this Rowan perked up, staring at Ferris with wide eyes. Spirit was in the ranch? This wasn't good. She could get hurt or captured by Desians or killed.

"It gets better," Ferris said. "We now have an escape plan. What we need is for someone to steal the cheat-sheet with passwords from a high-ranking Desian. Unfortunately… I'm not sure how we should do that. Captain Asgard has entrusted us with this mission."

"I could get it," Rowan said. All eyes turned to him and Rowan was annoyed with the dubious looks he was getting. "I robbed a bag of Gald from a pirate without him even noticing. I can get this password thing from a Desian."

"The only Desian we know for sure has the passwords written down is Vale," Ferris said. "You'll have to get close to him."

Rowan nodded. "I know how to do that." He frowned. "It'll probably hurt… but I can do it."

* * *

After breakfast, Lloyd, Kratos, and Colette packed up their belongings and started walking again. Kratos said that tomorrow they'd reach the mountains, and today the path they were following was beginning to slope upwards.

"Once we're out of the mountains," Colette asked, "how long will it take to get to Altamira?"

"Another day or so," Kratos said. "And I suppose you two are going to make us stay in Altamira for the night rather than pushing on to the Tower of Salvation."

"Of course," Lloyd said with a grin. "We have to at least have time to visit Regal and Presea."

"Lloyd…" Kratos said, "I hope you realize that you can put it off for as long as you want, but I _am_ going to leave."

Kratos' words stabbed Lloyd in the chest and Colette gave him a nervous look. "I – I know that," he stammered. "I'm not… it's not like I'm…" He sighed. "I know."

Kratos didn't look at him as he said, "I just don't want you to delude yourself and then be disappointed all over again."

Of course Kratos had seen through his clever scheme. But, Lloyd was heartened by the fact that even though Kratos knew Lloyd was purposefully delaying them, he wasn't doing anything to prevent it.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Ferris asked.

"Yeah." Rowan and Ferris kept their eyes on the ground as they spoke, only risking a glance at the Desians every now and then. If the Desians caught them paying more attention to their surroundings than their job, they wouldn't be frugal with their whips. Rowan felt secure knowing that Spirit and Kratos were watching them from the roof, but they were too exposed out here for them to risk interfering unless it was life-threatening.

"Remember," Ferris said in a low voice while he shovelled, "the only place on the Desian uniform to keep the card is in that pocket on the belt."

"Right." He tossed a shovelful of dirt to the other side of the trench and said, "Let's go." He smacked Ferris' shovel with his own, resulting in a loud clang. "Hey, what do you think you're doing? Stop getting in my way!"

Ferris straightened up and snapped, "You're the one getting in _my_ way!"

Rowan dropped his shovel and shoved Ferris, making him crash into the soldier next to him. "Watch your mouth or I'll put my fist in it!"

"Hey, hey!" said a Desian, marching over with his whip in hand. "You inferior beings settle down!"

He came up next to Rowan and Ferris and was about to crack his whip when Rowan turned and punching him in the face. The Desian stared at him in shock for a second, and then he returned the favour and his fist flew at Rowan. Rowan had been expecting this and dodged to the side, and then brought his arm up to punch him in the gut.

He heard shouts as more Desians noticed the disturbance and came running, but none of them stepped in to interfere. Rowan didn't mind, though. The plan was to get caught, but he was willing to prolong this part of it in order to channel al his anger out on the Desian in front of him.

He turned his body over to auto-pilot as the two of them brawled. The punches that hit him felt like they were happening to someone else, and the blows he landed on the other sent wave after wave of satisfaction coursing through him. The world narrowed to just him in the Desian. The edges of this world were the other Desians standing in a ring around them, cheering their buddy on. The world itself consisted of his heart pounding in his ears and lungs panting for breath. He felt moisture trickling down his face and couldn't spare the attention to see if it was sweat or blood.

And then the world shattered when a new voice broke in. "Cease this immediately!"

The Desian Rowan was fighting froze, shortly followed by Rowan. Both of them stood in the circle, shoulders rising and falling with their heavy panting. Rowan felt satisfaction at the fact that he'd successfully drawn Vale over here.

"And just what in Origin's name is going on here?" Vale asked.

"This human caused a disturbance, sir." The Desian said while the ones watching began to slowly slink away.

"And tell me, Dodgson, is engaging in a fistfight with a human ranch policy?"

The Desian hung his head. "No, sir."

"You're on cleaning detail for a month, Dodgson."

"Yes, sir."

"And the rest of you," Vale said, looking around at the gathered Desians, "if I catch any of you starting fights, you're going to _wish_ you got a month of cleaning detail."

There was a mass mumbling of, "Yes, sir."

"And you…" Vale rounded on Rowan, unable to hide the pleasure on his face that he was about to be able to dish out some punishment. "I should have known it would be you. I remember you from our talk – impudent and pugnacious to the core, eh?"

Rowan didn't know what either of those words meant, but he had a feeling he was being insulted so he crossed his arms and glared at Vale.

"You two," he pointed at a pair of Desians who were trying to inconspicuously return to their posts. "Punish this human. Twenty lashes."

As the Desians approached, Rowan took his chance. He locked his eyes on the pouch on Vale's belt and launched himself at the Desian. Vale was unarmed and taken completely by surprise, so when Rowan crashed into him the Desian was thrown onto his back. With one hand Rowan punched him in the face while with the other his hand reached into the pouch on Vale's waist. He heard Desians shouting and running towards him and knew he had limited time to act. His right hand closed around an index card in the pouch and he clasped his hand around it. Vale was too distracted by trying to throw Rowan off of him to notice the theft, but to Rowan's immense satisfaction, Vale was weaker than him and wasn't very successful.

Someone grabbed him and dragged him off of Vale. He was so caught up in the thrill of beating Vale senseless that he fought back at first in order to continue attacking. The Desian holding him pinned his arms behind his back while Vale wiped blood from his nose and slowly got to his feet. Rowan came to his senses and stopped struggling, clenching his fist around the now-crumpled index card in his hand.

"I think…" Vale panted, "make that fifty lashes."

Rowan clenched his fists even tighter. He had known that this was probably going to happen, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to it. To the side, he saw Ferris watching him with a grim look. Rowan caught his eye and risked giving him a wink, letting him know that no matter what happened, he had accomplished his goal.

Vale glared around at the humans watching, successfully looking threatening despite his slowly swelling eye. "The rest of your group can enjoy three extra hours of labour and half-rations for the rest of the month. Well? What are you all standing around for? Get back to work!"

* * *

"Wait."

Kratos stopped and looked down at Lloyd. "What is it?"

Lloyd ignored him and stopped, taking Colette's hand. "Colette, are you ok?"

She nodded glumly. "Yes. It just… it makes me so sad. Desians are cruel."

"I know." Kratos' story had reminded him very strongly of what he'd witnessed happening to Marble way back at the beginning of the journey. Hearing about what happened to Rowan and the Cleopolicans really made it sink in that Desians had been hurting and abusing people for four thousand years. "But they're gone now. We defeated them."

"And I'm glad," Colette said. "But I wish that when we defeated Cruxis now, it would get rid of Desians throughout history too."

"A retroactive defeat?" Kratos said. "Yes, that would be nice…"

"We've got a whole new world in front of us, Colette," Lloyd said. "So now we can do our best to make it a great place to make up for all the suffering Cruxis caused."

* * *

When Rowan came to, he was in the cell surrounded by the others. He was lying uncomfortably on his chest, so he pushed himself into an upright position. This caused the dozens of cuts across his back to burn in pain, but he ignored it to the best of his ability and looked around. He sat on his knees, and in his clenched hand was a balled-up index card.

"You're up," Ferris said, walking over and kneeling in front of him. "How do you feel?"

"Like crap. But I got the codes." He unfolded the card and found it covered in neatly penned words. "Here."

Ferris took the paper and his eyes darted across it. "Perfect." He smiled at Rowan. "You did a good job. We'll make good use of this to make sure that wasn't for nothing."

Rowan nodded. "Good. I'm sorry you guys got in trouble too. I didn't think Vale would punish the whole group."

One of the other soldiers spoke up to say, "Don't worry about it. We're soldiers; we can handle a little work!"

"Besides," said another, "we're not going to be here much longer anyways."

Down the hall, the door opened and everyone immediately quieted down. Ferris tucked the index card into the hem of his pants and watched the cell door. Rowan craned his neck to look around, gritting his teeth against the flare up of pain as the movement pulled on his back.

Footsteps approached and a Desian stopped in front of the door. Rowan glared daggers into him until he removed his helmet and the rest of the room perked up.

"Captain," Ferris said, standing up and saluting. "We got the codes."

Pierce shook his head to try and fix his helmet-hair, but it was ineffective. "That's good," he said. "I knew I could count on you, Lieutenant,"

"Thank you, sir," Ferris said as he walked across the room to hand the paper through the bars. "But actually, we have this young man to thank for it."

Rowan turned completely around so he wasn't looking over his shoulder, met Pierce's eye and nodded curtly.

Pierce said, "Ah, you would be the Chosen's brother, correct?"

"That's right. How is she?"

"She's fine, other than being terribly worried about you. You should count yourself lucky to have such a devoted sister."

"I'd do the same for her in a heartbeat."

Pierce smiled. "How endearing. But regardless, I can't hang around here much longer. I'm technically not supposed to be here. I'll take these codes to Kratos and we'll enact the escape attempt tomorrow. After Vale's words today, I don't think we can count on the other Desians risking helping us create a distraction. I'll take care of it. If all goes well, we'll be spending tomorrow night in Cleopolica."

A cheer ran up through the cell, though Pierce and Rowan didn't share it. Both of them were a bit too cynical to count their cockatrices before they hatched.

When the group was quiet again, Pierce said, "Alright, I have to go now. I know you won't let me down tomorrow. Goodnight."

The troops chorused "Goodnight, Captain Asgard," as he left.

As everyone started settling down again, Rowan looked to Ferris and said, "Do you really think we'll get out tomorrow?"

Ferris frowned and didn't answer right away. "I don't know," he finally said. "I'd like to hope so, but there are so many things that could go wrong."

Rowan sighed. "Guess we'll just have to hope for the best." It seemed like a lot of their plan relied on hope. This bothered Rowan, who would much prefer to rely on hard work rather than wishful thinking.

* * *

Spiritua leaned over the edge of the roof, watching Kratos and Pierce talk down below. She could hear what they were saying perfectly even from up here, as clearly as if they were standing ten feet from her. She was starting to get used to the increased senses that came with becoming an angel, but sometimes certain things stood out to her, such as being able to eavesdrop with this much ease, that highlighted the fact that she wasn't quite human anymore.

Usually she dealt with the changes by appreciating the benefits. While spending all day sitting alone on the roof, she'd had a lot of time to consider the whole weight of her task pressing down on her. To keep from hurtling into depressing when she thought about everything she was expected to do, she thought about how nice it was to be able to see such a stunning landscape with her excellent eyes, or the feeling of security she had now that she had wings to keep her from falling. Her body was changing into a radically different form, but at least they were _good_ changes.

Other times she wished she didn't have these super-perceptive senses. Earlier today, she'd wished she could block out the awful cracks of the whip when Rowan was being punished. She'd wanted so badly to shoot the Desians, but they were in a much too open of an area to get away with it without running everything. And if she and Kratos got caught, Rowan's sacrifice would be for nothing.

Kratos' head appeared over the edge of the roof as he flew back up. After landing, he walked over to Spiritua and sat down next to her. "Your brother successfully acquired the list of passwords. Tomorrow we will carry out the escape plan."

Spiritua nodded. She really hoped everything worked out tomorrow. She hated sitting up here, surrounded by Desians. But tomorrow they'd get out, and all the prisoners would be able to go home. As much as she was looking forward to getting Rowan out, she had to admit that what she was even more excited about was the prospect of seeing her father again. She'd been watching the prisoners in the yard intently all day, hoping to catch a glimpse of him, but so far no luck. Rowan probably knew where he was, though. He would have asked around as soon as he got in to find Dad so once they got him out, they'd get Dad out too.

"Are you prepared?" Kratos said. "This will be our first big battle."

She nodded.

"Another thing, Chosen. While battling, you should try to use artes rather than merely shooting your bow."

Spiritua wrinkled her brow and turned her head to face him. She had never heard the word 'artes' applied to archery before.

"Do you know how to do that? Or even what an arte is?"

She shook her head.

"Artes are special abilities that become open to you once you equip yourself with a Cruxis Crystal or an Exsphere. By drawing on your body's mana, you imbue your weapons with magic and can carry out more powerful attacks. For example, you have seen me use the arte Double Demon Fang. I don't have much experience with archery artes, but I would imagine you would be able to shoot farther, stronger, or perhaps multiple arrows at once."

She nodded slowly, eyeing her bow as it sat innocuously at her feet. It was hard to imagine that such a simple device could become a magic weapon now just because she had a crystal on her chest.

"Unless you're very skilled, you will need to call out the name of an arte in order to use it. Don't worry about learning the names, though. As you gain more power and control over your mana, the names and means to carry out certain artes will come to you."

Spiritua gave no word that she understood, though she thought she got the gist of it. If she could use magic attacks, then she'd be able to kill her enemies faster. Spirit didn't enjoy fighting and would rather get it out of the way as fast as possible, and artes would make that easier.

She got to her feet, the gravel on the roof crunching under her feet.

"Where are you going?" Kratos asked, looking up at her.

"A walk." She couldn't stand just sitting here anymore. Just sitting and waiting for tomorrow was making her antsy.

"Don't wander too far," Kratos said. "And be careful not to be seen."

She bobbed her head once before heading off, feeling slightly insulted that Kratos felt the need to remind her not to be seen.

* * *

As the sun rose over the yard the next day, Rowan could feel the eyes of Vale watching the yard from the control room up above. You could control the entire ranch from that room alone, and as long as Vale was perched up there, no escape attempt would get off the ground without him shooting it down immediately. Therefore, they had to get him out of the way.

As they worked and got ready for action, it occurred to Rowan that they hadn't even considered Dagen himself. They had just assumed that Dagen wouldn't be making an appearance since he hadn't so far. Looking back, Rowan decided that that was kind of rude. It was, after all, his ranch, so it was impolite not to greet your guests.

Wow. He must be _really_ stressed if he was wasting time thinking about stupid stuff like that.

"That's Captain Asgard over there," Ferris whispered to Rowan, gesturing with his elbow and trying not to draw attention.

Rowan followed his gaze, and now that Ferris had pointed it out he could recognize the captain walking amongst the Desians. He was doing a good job of blending in, but once you already knew who he was, the way he avoided contact with other Desians and spent moments just a bit too long gazing forlornly at the prisoners it was clear. Rowan didn't have the same devotion and loyalty to him the way the others did, but it was still comforting to know that at least one of the Desians was on their side.

"You know," Rowan said as he dumped a shovelful of dirt, "I could help you fight."

Ferris didn't even look up when he replied. "No offense, but no, you couldn't."

Rowan bristled in indignation. What bothered him the most was the very casual matter-of-fact way in which Ferris had said it. While Rowan scowled, he ignored his aching back, aching muscles, and aching, well, _everything_ that was heartily agreeing with Ferris.

Seeing his look, Ferris said, "You're used to working on your own, but while you're with us, you're part of our team. And the first rule of working on a team is that not everybody gets to be the hero. You need to know your strengths and limitations, and for you right now, that leads to you being better suited as bait than as a soldier."

Rowan glared at his shovel with distaste. The worst part was that he couldn't think of a witty retort, and a sneaking suspicion told him that this was because Ferris was right. Besides, he couldn't even call Ferris a hypocrite because Ferris was offering himself up as bait in much the same way Rowan planned to.

Rowan looked up again at Pierce, who had met Ferris' gaze. Then he looked up at the roof, and when Rowan followed his faze he caught the smallest flash of movement as Spirit gave the signal. It was time to begin.

"Hey!" Ferris shouted, standing up straight and resting the head of his shovel on the ground. Rowan tried to look like he was working while still glancing over his shoulder as much as he dared to watch the confrontation.

The nearest Desian paused long enough to crack his whip at Ferris. Rowan flinched on instinct, while Ferris ducked to the side just in time. "Get back to work you maggot!"

"I'd like to speak to Commander Vale," Ferris said, undaunted.

The Desian, realizing that this couldn't be taken care of so easily, stomped over towards them. "You don't get to make requests, human." It was kind of fascinating how Desians all seemed to have the ability to say the word 'human' and make it sound exactly like 'disgusting scum of the earth'.

"I am Lieutenant Ferris, commanding officer of these troops, and I have information Vale has expressed interest in. He _wants_ me to talk to him."

The Desian wavered, looking between Ferris and the window of the control room. He had the difficult choice of either succumbing to a human's demands, or defying the wishes of Commander Vale. In the end, he decided he was more afraid of Vale than he was too proud to listen to a human, and said, "Just… stay here. And get back to work until I get back!" He ran off, and Ferris grinned as he turned back to digging.

Rowan said, "When you're talking to Vale, make sure you keep him distracted for as long as possible."

Ferris rolled his eyes. "You don't need to remind me what my job is, Rowan."

"Just checking."

About ten minutes later, the Desian returned. He was trailing behind Commander Vale, who bore a satisfied smirk on his face. He marched right up to Ferris, who paused and stood straight again when Vale arrived.

"So, M001, you've decided to cooperate?"

"I'll give you the information you requested if you relinquish the penalties you imposed upon my men."

Vale raised an eyebrow. "I don't think you're in the position to make an offer."

"It's the only way you're ever going to get information out of me."

"Hm…" Vale rubbed his chin, and then addressed the Desian behind him and said, "Bring him inside. We'll see if we can work something out."

Ferris followed the Desians away, and every single Cleopolican soldier watched them disappear. Now that Vale was out of the way, they could almost begin. They clutched their shovels and prepared for a fight.


	10. The Great Escape

Look, I'm finally updating! Sorry it's been taking so long. I'm really busy with school right now, as well as an original fiction story I'm also trying to work on. I'll try to update faster in the future!

* * *

**Chapter Ten: The Great Escape**

"I'm exhausted," Lloyd said. The path they had been following was steep now as they headed into the mountains. He missed the gentle meandering path crossing the plains, but at least once they got out of the mountains they'd be in Altamira soon. He couldn't wait to see Regal and Presea.

"I don't like the looks of those storm clouds," Kratos said, staring up at the sky.

"I think they look very pretty," Colette said. "They're all thick and dark and fluffy."

"No," Kratos said, barely restraining an annoyed sigh. "I mean I think they look like storm clouds. I could do without getting caught in a storm in the mountains."

"But it's summer," Lloyd said. "So it's not like we'll get snowed in, right?" One of the few things he remembered from school were horror stories about travellers getting caught in blizzards in the mountains for months. He remembered this because these stories included cannibalism, and child Lloyd had found that rather exciting.

"No," Kratos said, "it won't snow at this time of year. Still, rain can make narrow paths and steep slopes dangerous."

"Colette," Lloyd said, turning to give her a serious look, "if we get trapped, I want you to eat me first, ok?"

Kratos frowned. "Lloyd, nobody is going to have to eat-"

"But, Lloyd," Colette said in an equally serious voice, "I don't think I could bear to eat you!"

Kratos once again tried to say, "This isn't even an issue because-"

"I know, Colette, but if I die to keep you from starving to death, then I'll do it, ok?"

Kratos sighed. "This is ridiculous. Do you want to keep discussing hypothetical cannibalism or shall I continue the story?"

Lloyd and Colette immediately shut up and turned their heads to Kratos.

* * *

From where she sat, Spiritua had a good view of the entire yard. She perched herself on the edge of the roof, staring down at the people below, and prepared her bow. She knew she was a good shot, but once the fighting started it would be difficult to aim. She just had to hope she only hit Desians.

She was alone up here now. As soon as they had seen Vale down below to confirm that he had vacated the control room, Kratos had taken off. The stairs from the roof let out not too far down the hall from the control room, so it wouldn't have taken him long to get there. The thought that he might have gotten caught by Desians crossed her mind, but she immediately pushed it back. Kratos was an angel; he would be fine. She should concern herself with the humans below her.

Both she and Kratos were in position, so it was up to Rowan and the Cleopolicans now. Vale was out of the way for now, and hopefully Ferris would keep him distracted for as long as possible, but time was still limited. Why weren't they –

Oh, there he goes. She spotted Pierce striding confidently across the yard and watched as he walked right up to Rowan. He started shouting and grabbed Rowan's arm, dragging him away from the ditch and, most importantly, as far away from the main gate as he could. They were making such a loud ruckus that even without her super-sensitive ears she would have been able to hear them perfectly. Pierce ranted and raved at Rowan for disrespecting him and talking back and slacking off, throwing his arms around wildly to gain as much attention as possible.

It was succeeding. From across the yard, Desians began migrating towards them to see what the commotion was. Prisoners had stopped working and stared, while the Desians who were supposed to be whipping them back to work were too busy taking a quick break to see what was going on in order to have good gossip for the break room. It was ok if they took just a couple minutes off, right? After all, nothing was going to happen in just the short span that they walked over here…

By now, only a few stragglers were left at their posts, while the rest of the Desians surrounded Pierce and Rowan. They cheered and egged him on while the two of them did their best to make the fight look real. Pierce threw some punches that barely missed, along with others that did hit but weren't quite as hard.

And while the Desians were successfully distracted, the gate began to open.

* * *

Ten minutes earlier, Kratos slipped into the control room minutes after Vale had vacated it. The room was empty, which was good because he didn't want to kill anyone. Getting into a fight in here would be a bad idea, since with all these computers around it would be all too easy to sound an alarm.

He took a seat in the plush office chair that sat in front of the window on the opposite side of the room from the door. From here, he had access to all the controls of the ranch. He could probably even turn the sprinklers on if he was so inclined. His first task, however, was to lock the door to the room, just in case. This was surprisingly difficult, as it involved finding the "Door Locks" command on the screen and then typing in the right password when prompted. He didn't like this whole computerized, virtual thing, but the solid clicking of the locks behind him was reassuring.

Now his more pressing task was figuring out how to open the gates. He stared at the screen for a couple seconds, the endless list of icons and potential tasks blurring before his eyes for a moment. He didn't have much practical experience with computers, but he'd watched Yuan tinkering with the things enough that he thought he could work his way through. He took a deep breath and dove in.

* * *

The gate opened. From where she sat with such a perfect birds-eye view, Spirit almost laughed at the way every head in the yard turned in unison to look at the gate. There was a long pause as everyone just stared as it slowly slid open, until the rumbling stopped and the gaping hole in the ranch's defenses stood wide.

A second later, all hell broke loose. Every prisoner in the yard began a mad dash for the open gates, while the Desians surrounded Pierce and Rowan did an about-face and tried to chase after them. They were hindered by the Cleopolican soldiers, who were armed with shovels and had lined up between the Desians and the gate. The soldiers were tired and hungry, but they fought ferociously, beating back the Desians.

Now that the gate was open, the pirates that had been hiding in the woods emerged. They didn't risk entering the ranch and joining the fray, but they did stand guard just outside the gate to keep back the Desians that made it to the gate. The pirates herded the escaping prisoners to their caravan. For a fee Pierce had promised Cleopolica would pay when they got back, the pirates would carry all the escapees back to Cleopolica.

The Desians that hadn't abandoned their posts chased after the fleeing humans, but they were Spiritua's responsibility. From her concealed position she picked them off like flies, reloading arrows just as fast as she fired them. As the third Desian dropped to the ground with an arrow sticking out of his back, she remembered what Kratos had said about using artes.

She took a deep breath and tried to summon up her mana, picturing it welling up inside her and then directing it into her bow. She let her hands guide her mind and moved the arrow into position, then felt her mouth moving without knowing quite what she was going to say.

"Piercing Line!" The arrow flew true and fast, zipping through the air in a whir of blue light. It flew faster than anything she had shot before, and it struck a Desian just as he was about to grab a fleeing child. Spirit let herself smile slightly in satisfaction before notching another arrow and continuing the onslaught.

* * *

"Come on!" Pierce said, forced to shout over the ruckus around them.

Rowan took one look at the battle going on between the soldiers and the Desians and knew there was no way they were getting out through the main gate. Luckily, the Desians were completely ignoring them now, focusing entirely on the escaping humans.

Pierce took off towards the door into the ranch with Rowan hot on his heels. Rowan didn't like the idea of going deeper into the ranch, but there wasn't really anywhere else they could go without trying to break through the mob of people. As they ran down the hall inside, Pierce grabbed Rowan's wrist to make it look like he was a prisoner.

More Desians passed them, asking, "What's going on out there?"

Pierce didn't bother answering, just kept running. Of course, since both he and Rowan were injured, the pair of gimps weren't exactly setting a speed record.

"Where are we going?" Rowan asked when they reached a stair case and slowed down enough so that they wouldn't trip and fall and break their necks.

"We're looking for Lieutenant Ferris. With the commotion outside, Vale will have given up interrogating him and gone to see what's happening. Once we find him, we're meeting up with Kratos in the control room."

"Where's Spirit?"

"Sniping from the roof."

They left the stair well and found themselves on a very similar corridor one floor up. At the end of the hall was the door to the control room where Kratos had barricaded himself. A handful of Desians stood in front of the door, banging on it and shouting.

"Hey, who's in there?"

"Close the gate you daft fool!"

"Unlock this door!"

From through the door, they could hear Kratos' voice calling back. "Sorry, I appear to have locked myself in here! Unlocking the door now… oh, no, that disengaged the alarms…let me try again…"

It sounded like he was having fun.

"Hey, you!" Pierce shouted at a Desian running down the hall towards the control room.

The Desian stopped short. He appeared to not notice the fact that the Desian Pierce was impersonating was of equal rank to him. As long as Pierce acted like he was in charge, people were likely to listen to him.

"Where is the prisoner Commander Vale was interrogating earlier?"

"Uh… down the hall above the prison section. Room 214, I believe."

"Thank you." They set off again, leaving the Desians to try and 'help' Kratos free himself from the control room.

As they hurried along the hall, Rowan asked, "What about the other prisoners? The ones not in the yard right now?"

Pierce frowned. "The majority of the prisoners are outside right now."

"Yeah," Rowan said, "but what about the ones who aren't?"

Pierce didn't look back at him as he said, "We can't save everyone."

Rowan pulled his arm away from Pierce and stopped short. "Wait, this was the plan from the beginning? Leave behind those who weren't lucky enough to be outside at the right time?"

Pierce turned around to glower at Rowan. "It isn't ideal, but it's the best plan we've got. I wish we didn't have to leave my people behind, but right now the goal is to get as many as possible out."

"We can't leave people behind! How would you feel if everyone else in town got their loved one back except for you?"

"We don't have time to argue about this! Stay behind and try to rescue everyone if you want; I'm going to get the lieutenant."

Pierce turned and started walking. Rowan hesitated, seriously considering staying and trying to help. But then he pictured Spirit sitting on the roof, waiting for him. He couldn't leave her. They had the rest of the journey to complete and he couldn't leave her on her own. He clenched his fists and stormed off after Pierce. When this was over, he'd come back and finish things.

"Sure," Rowan muttered to himself just loud enough that he was sure Pierce could hear him, "rescue the person _you_ care about but leave all the others…"

Pierce pretended he hadn't heard, but by the way his shoulders flinched just a tad, Rowan knew he had. _Good_, Rowan thought. _At least he feels guilty._

A few minutes later they reached room 214. The door was locked from the outside only, so they were able to walk right in. As soon as they entered, Ferris looked up from the table he sat behind and sat up straight in his chair. He grinned and said, "Good to see you, Captain. I'd salute, but my hands are a little tied." He raised his hands and shook his handcuffed wrists.

"I don't have the key for those, but I'm sure we can find something in the control room."

"Hold on," Rowan said, picking up the stack of papers Vale had left on the other side of the table. They were held together by a paperclip, which Rowan wasted no time in pulling apart and fashioning a quick lock pick. "I can get that."

Ferris held out his hands while Rowan set to work. Pierce, meanwhile, had a look of mild displeasure and said, "As an officer of the law, I'm not even going to ask where you learned to do that."

Rowan didn't look up from his fiddling as he responded, "Oh no, I can pick a lock. Clearly this means I am a criminal mastermind. What, are you gonna arrest me?"

Ferris shook the handcuffs loose and stood up. "Thanks. I tried to keep Vale occupied for as long as I could, but when a Desian came to tell him what was happening, he rushed out."

"You did just fine, Lieutenant," Pierce said as they went out. "And Rowan, you'd be surprised. The most consistent thorn in my side other than the Desians is nothing more than a pick-pocket – which I've heard you are also skilled at, I may add."

"If this pick-pocket is such a problem, why can't you just put him in jail?"

Pierce didn't answer, just glowered at the floor and mumbled something to himself. Meanwhile, Ferris chuckled. "He's been trying, but somehow this one girl keeps alluding him. I swear he's going to go mental if he loses her again."

"Be quiet, Lieutenant," he grumbled.

"Sorry, Captain."

They were about to round the corner to the hall that led to the control room when Pierce stopped them. "Stay here for a moment and I'll get rid of the Desians around the door."

Rowan and Ferris waited, leaning against the wall as Pierce strode out into the hallway. Pierce's bellowing voice echoed down the corridor.

"Hey, you lot! Commander Vale has ordered every Desian out into the yard so stop screwing around up here!"

After a stammered chorus of "yes, sir", Rowan heard pounding footsteps and then Pierce's head poked around the corner. "They're gone. Let's go."

After hurrying down the hall, Pierce pounded on the door. "Kratos, it's us. Open the door."

After a couple seconds, the door slid open with Kratos in the doorway. "Are you ready to go?"

"Hi, Kratos, good to see you again, too," Rowan said.

Kratos ignored him. "All the prisoners in the yard have gotten out, and most of the ones from the cells I unlocked are making their way out as well. We've done all we can for them, and I instructed the Chosen to fly to safety as soon as the prisoners had vacated the yard. Now I would like to get ourselves out as fast as possible."

"Understood," Pierce said. "I assume you know the way to the roof?"

Kratos nodded and left the control room. "Follow me."

They took off back down the hall and went through another door. They ran up the flight up stairs and came out on the roof. Now that they were outside, they could hear running and shouting going on down below, but the din of the battle was gone. Rowan hoped that this was because the soldiers fled with the others once the prisoners were out and not that they were all dead.

"I'll have to carry you out one at a time," Kratos said. "I'm afraid I can only carry so much."

"Understandable," Pierce said. He threw down his Desian helmet and sword. "By Origin will I ever be thankful to get out of this uniform."

Kratos pulled out his wings. "I'll take you first, Captain." Pierce nodded and Kratos wrapped his arms around his torso and then took off. Once they were gone, Rowan collapsed onto the rough gravel of the roof. After all the frantic activity today, it felt good just to sit back and relax. They'd be out of here soon, and he couldn't wait to bid this hellhole goodbye.

"All in all," Rowan said, "I think this whole thing went over pretty well."

"Let's not be hasty," Ferris said. "There's still a chance for something to go wrong."

On the other side of the roof, another door burst open and a handful of Desians stormed out. "There they are!"

Rowan smacked his forehead. "You just _had_ to go and say that, didn't you?"

* * *

Kratos spotted the gathering of pirates and escapees in a small clearing in the woods. The Cleopolican soldiers and the pirates had set up a guard around the outskirts of the small camp in case any Desians came after them, while stunned and grateful humans gathered in the middle, hardly daring to believe that they were really free. Kratos set Pierce down next to the largest group of Cleopolicans he could find.

"Thank you," Pierce said.

Kratos nodded in response and turned to another soldier. "Excuse me, but have you seen a young girl in a purple dress?"

The soldier frowned. "Purple? Hm, no, sorry."

This bit of information bothered Kratos, so he immediately set off into the throng of people. Almost everyone was dressed in the same grungy prisoner rags, so Spiritua's vibrant purple outfit should stand out in the crowd.

After five minutes of searching, he spotted Captain Rook. "Captain," he called, walking up to him.

"Ah, hello Kratos. I think this went rather well, don't you think?"

"Have you seen Spiritua?"

"The little girl?" Rook shook his head. "I assumed she'd be coming back with you."

Kratos swore under his breath and took to the skies.

* * *

"Head to the control room!" Ferris shouted as he and Rowan dashed down the stairs. "The door can stand up to most attacks and will keep them out."

Rowan didn't need to be told twice and sprinted with all his might down the hall. He could hear the Desians chasing them not too far behind. He felt like a little kid playing tag again, where the control room was base and if he could just reach it, he'd be safe. Ferris and locked the door of the roof access stairs behind them, but it wouldn't take the Desians that long to break through. When he finally skidded through the door, he panted for breath and turned around to see Ferris run in just after him, wielding Pierce's dropped sword.

"Lock the door!" Ferris instructed.

Rowan looked at the door and ran his hands all over the doorframe. "How?" He tried not to pay attention to the fact that a dozen Desians were going to be here in about a minute.

"Use the computer," Ferris said. "I'll hold them off." He stood just inside the doorway with his sword at the ready.

Rowan had never seen a computer before in his life, but if Kratos had been able to operate them easily enough; it couldn't be that hard. He rushed over to the main control station and stared at the screen and all the symbols covering it.

"Er… Ferris, I think you ought to do this."

He heard a bang from down the hall as the door to the stairs was slammed open.

"No time! You can't fight with a sword so you've got no luck holding them off. Besides, I'm sure you know just as much about computers as I do. Just follow the instructions."

Rowan paled as he stared at the screen and felt sweat trickle down the back of his neck. Follow the instructions. Right. He needed to find the little icon on this screen – where every icon was an identical box with words in them – that said 'door locks'. He stared at the screen and all the letters blurred and shifted before his eyes.

"Ferris, I can't do this!" he called back.

"Oh yes you can!" There was a clang as the first Desian reached them and Ferris grunted and held him back. "Do it fast!"

He pounded his fist on the table, rattling the computer. "But I can't read!"

Ferris didn't answer right away, just concentrated on holding back the Desians. He really was a brilliant fighter now that he had a sword in hand. "You couldn't have mentioned that before!"

"I didn't think it would come up!" He scanned the room, hoping to find something to use as a weapon but coming up with nothing. He tried looking at the computer again just in case the letters had magically reformed themselves into something he could understand, but no such luck. Why couldn't the Desians just use _pictures_ like most people did? He felt so useless standing over here, unable to lock the door and unable to help Ferris fight back.

But he wasn't about to roll over and give up. He didn't have any actual weapons, but he still had his fists. He started to charge forward, when the ground began shaking, throwing both Rowan and Ferris off their feet. Hot, churning earth pounded against him for half a minute before it disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. His head spun as he tried to figure out what the hell had just happened, before he remembered that half-elves had magic. Of course, one of those bastards must have used a spell.

He forced himself to sit up as Desians walked around Ferris and filled the room. Ferris had dropped his sword and a Desian picked it up before he could grab it.

It didn't surprise Rowan at all to see that it was Vale who walked into the room with a smug look on his face. "You humans think you're so clever, don't you?"

Rowan scowled at him. "Using magic against us? That's a little low and cowardly, don't you think?"

"Oh, that wasn't my magic," Vale said. "If you think it's cowardly, you'll have to take it up with Cardinal Dagen."

Desians moved aside to allow a new person to enter. Rowan was both nervous and a bit interested at the prospect of finally meeting the Cardinal. He'd grown up hearing horror stories about the bastard, but now he was finally going to see what he looked like. As a child, he'd always pictured Dagen as being some giant, broad-shouldered madman with armour and a helmet with horns.

Then Dagen entered the room, and Rowan saw that all his ideas were completely false. Dagen was tall and thin, with a pale, pointed face and long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. Also, Dagen was a woman.

"So," Dagen said, crossing her arms and looking down at Rowan and Ferris. "You're the inferior beings that have been organizing all this chaos."

Rowan would have tried to come up with a witty response, but his mouth was otherwise occupied with gaping at the sight of Dagen. It wasn't just that she was a very attractive woman, but he was also incredibly surprised since he'd been expecting a hideously scarred monstrous man.

"I hope you feel pleased with yourselves," Dagen said. "And do hold on to that feeling, because I guarantee that when we're done with Cleopolica you won't be feeling nearly as chipper." To Vale, she said, "Lock them up with that little girl you caught on the roof."

Rowan's heart rate spiked. "What girl? You caught a girl? Did you hurt her? If you hurt her, I'll kill you!"

"Don't worry," Vale said as Rowan was dragged to his feet. "She won't suffer any injuries from us until it's time to execute her along with you two." 


	11. Negotiations

Would you look at that; a punctual update! Crazy.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Negotiations **

Kratos stood in the trees, trying to decide how he was going to get into the ranch. He'd flown back immediately after finding that Spiritua hadn't escaped, only to find that Ferris and Rowan were no longer waiting on the roof. He could only assume that they'd encountered problems with the Desians, and if they hadn't been captured they were hiding somewhere within the ranch, trying to find a way out. If that was the case, he'd have to get into the ranch somehow and find them. Since the mass breakout, however, security was in overdrive so sneaking in would be nearly impossible. There were even soldiers patrolling the roofs.

Well, he was alone now so he might as well use his position in his favour. That decided, he strode out of the trees and marched across the grass, straight for the main gate. Desians at the Gate saw him coming and raised their crossbows in defence, but Kratos paid them no mind until he had actually reached the gate.

"Stop right there, human," the Desian at the gate said, hefting his crossbow so that the bolt was aimed straight at Kratos' face. "If you think you're gonna release more of your friends, you've got another thing coming."

"Stand down, you idiot," Kratos snapped. "I'm not some human, I am Kratos Aurion of Cruxis. So get that thing out of my face post haste or I will be reporting directly to Lord Yggdrasill."

Kratos frequently enjoyed watching how fast his enemy's expressions could change upon realizing just who they were up against, and this Desian was no disappointment. Kratos wondered if perhaps he had set a record for the speed at which the Desian's features shifted from smug to terrified.

"Uh – um – of course, sir. What can I do for you, sir?"

"I'd like to meet with Dagen. I know where her office is, so I have no need for an escort."

"Of course, sir. Go right on through, sir."

Brownnosers were pathetic and annoying, but Kratos had to admit that they were useful when it worked in his favour. Since he had been waved through at the gate, the other Desians in the yard didn't bother him. They did give him curious looks and no doubt wondered who he was and why he was here, but they could be as curious as they wanted as long as they didn't get in Kratos' way.

Once inside the ranch, he wondered if he would have to just walk with his wings out to keep from getting stopped, but the Desians inside seemed to trust the ones outside to not let enemies in, and since he was walking with the confidence of someone who had every right to be there, he wasn't stopped. Or it could be that the ranch was still in too much of a mess to worry about him. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry to get everywhere. Most got by with power-walking down the halls, but some Desians flat-out ran.

When he reached the door to the prison cells, he was slightly irked to find the door locked. It was understandable that they'd have every security measure possible in place today of all days, but it was still a hassle. He'd have to find a Desian with a key to let him in. Just in time, he saw a young man come through a different door on his right.

"You," Kratos called, causing the Desian to stop short. "Where can I get a key for this door?"

"Uh… I think Cardinal Dagen is holding onto the only one right now."

"I see. Thank you." This was a pain. He had been hoping to avoid confronting Dagen herself, but it would seem that doing so was unavoidable. He could always try to blast open the door, but that would probably draw Dagen out anyway so he might as well go talk to her.

The Desian ran off and Kratos redirected himself toward Dagen's office. He wasn't sure exactly where it was, but he was willing to bet it was on the second floor. He made his way to the stairs, but just as he was about to open the door to the stair well, it opened from within.

"Ah, hello," the newcomer said. "I'm Commander Vale. I was told a suspicious character was attempting to get into the prison cells; I assume that would be you?"

"Correct," Kratos said. "My name is Kratos Aurion, and I am a seraph from Cruxis. I would like to meet with Cardinal Dagen."

"I'm sure she would love to meet with you too, My Lord. Follow me."

As Kratos followed Vale upstairs, it became quite obvious to him that he had finally met someone for whom his status as a seraph meant little. Vale wouldn't immediately kill or imprison him for fear of backlash from Cruxis, but the way he had said 'My Lord' made it very clear that any act of respect was just that: an act. Kratos didn't care, because he had never been one to demand respect for his position as long as he was obeyed, but he did make note of it. Vale would be first in line to turn on him if he thought he could get away with it.

They reached the Cardinal's office and Vale opened the door. Dagen looked up from her desk as they entered. "What is it, Vale?" she snapped. "You had better not be bothering me for stupid reasons again."

Vale bowed his head slightly. "Forgive me, My Lady. This is Lord Aurion from Cruxis, and he wishes to speak with you."

"From Cruxis? Interesting. You may go, Vale. Lord Aurion, please take a seat."

Vale gave Kratos a suspicious glare, but left the room. When he was gone, Kratos sat down in the chair in front of Dagen's desk. Her desk was scrupulously neat with not a paper out of place, and Dagen sat with a straight back and her hands folded neatly on the table in front of her. "How can I help you, My Lord?"

Once again, Kratos caught the hint of resentment in the words 'My Lord'. Obviously Dagen was not entirely supportive of his position in Cruxis.

"It's about the prisoners you captured today."

"Ah, yes, the instigators of our little break out. I can assure Cruxis that they will be punished to the fullest extent. We will ensure that a disaster such as this will never occur again."

"While I am happy to hear that," Kratos said, "I am afraid there is more to it than a simple check-up."

"Is that so?" Dagen was smiling, and Kratos had to applaud her acting skills, but the sheer amount of dislike she had for him spilled out of her eyes.

"You see, the prisoners you captured today were companions of mine. While attempting to keep the link between Cruxis and the Desians a secret, matters got out of hand and they elected to try an escape attempt. This will not happen again, but I do require that they be released. The girl you captured is in fact the Chosen of Mana, so obviously Cruxis will not be pleased if she is killed." Kratos could play the civil game, too. He couldn't say that he hated Dagen, but she certainly wasn't one of his favourite people. He carefully kept his tone even and polite, even though he wanted to just bark an order and walk out.

"I understand," Dagen said. "I had guessed it was something like that; it would explain the wings. Of course she will have to be released. She's been injured, but I'll send someone to heal the wound."

Kratos nodded once. "I appreciate your understanding."

"However."

Kratos almost swore. Of course there was a 'however'.

"I see no reason that it would be required to release the two men."

"They are my companions," Kratos said. "As a seraph of Cruxis, I grant them immunity."

Dagen raised an eyebrow. "I wasn't aware that that was one of the powers of a seraph."

Kratos was starting to get annoyed. "Are you questioning my authority, Cardinal?"

"I wouldn't dream of it, My Lord." There it was again. The heavily sarcastic 'My Lord.' "But you must understand that releasing the two men who organized the break-out is not possible. We will need to make an example of them in order to ensure obedience from Cleopolica."

"The Journey of Regeneration is already underway," Kratos said. "Once the Chosen regenerates the world, you will move your ranch to Tethe'alla and by the time you are back, no Cleopolican alive will remember your 'example.'"

Dagen smiled sweetly. "No offense, My Lord, but it is a very dangerous journey. Are you so sure that you will be able to keep the Chosen alive? There is always the possibility that she will die and we will remain in Sylvarant for several years more."

"That won't happen," Kratos said. "This journey _will_ result in a regeneration."

"I like to be prepared, so I'm just going to hold onto my prisoners just in case."

"Are you defying a direct order, Cardinal?"

Finally the pleasant smile broke. Kratos was actually happy to see her angry resolve show through, because it meant that he could let his own veil of politeness drop as well. "Yes, I am defying a direct order. What are you going to do, Kratos? Report me to Lord Yggdrasill? What will you tell him, that you wanted to free your little criminal human friends rather than doing what's best for the Desian system as a whole? Whose side do you think he would take?"

The most aggravating part of this whole conversation was that Kratos knew she was right. He could give out as many orders as he wanted, but Dagen wasn't budging from her position and if he brought it up to higher authority, he knew he'd lose.

"Here's what you will do, Kratos," Dagen said as she gave him an icy stare. "The girl is in a separate cell block. You will pretend to break in and rescue her, and I will ensure that no Desians stand in your way. You will take her out of the ranch and apologize for the fact that you were not able to rescue the other two, and then you will continue on your journey and never return to my ranch. Do you understand?"

"Clearly," Kratos said. "But be warned that Lord Yggdrasill will be made aware of your disrespect."

Dagen smiled. "I look forward to it."

* * *

Spiritua was alone. She sat with her legs pulled up to her chest as she tried to figure out just when everything had started going wrong.

It had started with her own capture. She'd just been perched on the roof, waiting to see if her sniping was going to be needed again. It looked like everyone who was going to escape already had. It broke her heart to see how many of the Cleopolican soldiers had been killed, but at least their sacrifice hadn't been in vain. A huge number of prisoners had escaped and made their way to the pirates waiting in the woods to ferry them home. Kratos had said that once the prisoners were out, she was supposed to leave. She wanted to wait just a little longer, though, just in case someone else made it out and needed help.

She watched the yard like a hawk, but she still kept her ears open for any signs. And so when she heard the creak of the door and the sound of light footsteps, she immediately focused all her attention on them. There was more than one set of footsteps, and they were soft and trying to be stealthy. If it were her friends, they would have no need to sneak up on her so she immediately assumed they were Desians. Fighting them would be difficult, so the only logical explanation was to flee.

Her wings rushed out and she jumped in the air. She wasn't terribly fond of flight, and the way her hair whipped in the wind as if she were falling up made her queasy. But still, she had to admit that flight had its uses.

And then she heard a loud _twang_ and a second later she was overwhelmed by a blinding pain shooting through her shoulder. She jolted to a stop, hovering in the sky and taking deep breaths. Moving her wings agitated the crossbow bolt in her shoulder, and then she heard an angry voice from below.

"Come down this instant or I'll shoot again, and trust me, I missed your neck on purpose. Next time you won't be so lucky."

She glanced down. Five Desians stood in a circle around her, led by the one she recognized as Vale. They all pointed crossbows at her, and she knew that if she tried to fly away, at least one of them would successfully hit her. She set her face into impassive defiance and let herself drift down.

The wound in her shoulder had been healed by now. She didn't know why they bothered, but just ten minutes ago a Desian mage had come in and healed it with magic. She had never experience a healing spell before; she was amazed at how quickly the pain faded away. But she was alone now. The cell she was in seemed much too large for just her, and the emptiness in the cold grey roomed seemed to press in on her.

Down the hall, a door banged open and running footsteps pounded toward her. She raised her head and peered through the bars, and her heart leapt when she saw Kratos. He had a furious expression on his face, but even as frightening as it was, she had never been happier to see him. He had a key in his hand and seconds later the door swung open.

"Come with me, Chosen."

She followed him into the hall and then Kratos led her back towards the door. Once they left the prison block, they started to run. Spirit was surprised at the absence of Desians, and wondered if it was because Kratos had already killed all the Desians in this area of the ranch.

When they reached the stairs heading up to the second level, she stopped long enough to ask, "When are we going to get Rowan?"

Kratos didn't answer. His face was blank for a second, and then he said, "We need to hurry up stairs."

Spiritua planted her feet. "When?"

Kratos sighed. "Chosen, I'm sorry. We don't have time to argue, but going back for Rowan and Ferris is impossibly. The area of the ranch that they are in is too heavily guarded."

"You got me."

"And that was difficult enough. I am truly sorry, but now we have to go."

Spirit crossed her arms, locked her gaze, and stood her ground. She had come to this ranch to get her brother out, and she wasn't going to leave until she succeeded. Nothing Kratos could say would convince her to walk away from this.

Kratos met her eye. The pair of them spent almost an entire thirty seconds staring each other down, gazes locked and brows furrowed in stubborn determination. Just as Spirit was about to give up on getting Kratos' help and turn around to go rescue Rowan herself, Kratos decided to act.

He reached forward, grabbed her around the waist, and hefted her over his shoulder. Spiritua's eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly found herself being carried up the stairs. "Put me down," she snapped.

"No," Kratos replied. It was a simple word, but when Kratos said it, it became obvious that it was not so much a word as a period, definitively ending the discussion. Spiritua squirmed and struggled, but it didn't do much good. She might have had angel strength, but so did Kratos and he happened to have quite a bit more.

Kratos carried her right up to the roof, where he shifted his hold and carried her in front of him in his arms. Then he pulled out his wings and took off, leaving the ranch – and Rowan – behind.

* * *

They landed in the trees a short walk from the pirates. Kratos set Spiritua down on her feet, and prepared himself for her fury. He had known she would probably hate him for carrying her out and leaving her brother behind, but it had been his only option. Even if he could fight his way through all the Desians in the corridors, Dagen was regrettably right. Mithos _would_ side with her and considering Mithos was getting more paranoid by the day, giving him any reason to doubt his own loyalty would be very bad in the long run.

Spiritua didn't rage at him. She didn't stomp her feet or ball her fists or demand to be taken back. She just looked at him. It was a simple look that conveyed a whole range of emotions, from anger and disappointment to sadness and worry, and finally spiralling around to one simple question: why? Why did you do that? Why didn't you at least try to save him? Why would you think that I would ever follow you from now on if you left my brother to die?

The trouble was, Kratos couldn't answer any of her 'why's. The answers were tied up in matters of Cruxis and the Desians and things that Spiritua couldn't know less it just make everything worse. He tried to answer her as best he could.

"I'm sorry, Chosen. I realize that you were very upset with my actions."

_Obviously_, her expression said.

"This is not the end," Kratos said. "Before rescuing you, I was able to… eavesdrop, and discovered that Rowan and Lieutenant Ferris will be transported to Cleopolica for a public execution. That will be our chance to rescue them." Honestly, Kratos would much prefer to leave Spiritua outside of Cleopolica and head in on his own, but after her display in regards to the ranch he had given up thinking he could keep her back.

They walked through the woods until they reached the gathering of pirates and ex-prisoners. Kratos spotted Pierce's head amidst a sea of Cleopolicans and made a beeline for him. He seemed to be trying to protest his role as the mastermind behind the escape. From the way it was looking, it didn't seem to be going too well. It was understandable, of course. The crowd of elated Cleopolicans surrounding him would much rather believe that their freedom was the work of their very own Captain Asgard rather than a little girl from Luin and some pirates.

Pierce caught Kratos' eye and then turned to the Cleopolicans and held up his hands, "Please, I need to go speak to someone."

The crowd reluctantly parted and allowed Pierce to cross over to Kratos and Spiritua. When he reached them, he said, "Well?"

"An overall success in the immediate sense," Kratos said. "However, it would be wise to hurry back to Cleopolica." He filled Pierce in on everything he had learned from Dagen, and watched Pierce's face grow steadily darker as he outlined all their problems.

"I see," Pierce said, stroking his chin. "Then it would appear that the battle is not as over as we had hoped. I can't say I didn't fear something like this would happen, but I had hoped…" He shook his head. "My soldiers are tired, but there are still soldiers left behind in Cleopolica who can fight."

"We need to get back to Cleopolica before the Desians reach it to give the people warning," Kratos said.

Pierce frowned. "We will try to move a caravan of weak and starving escapees at a faster pace than a Desian military march?"

"We have to try," Kratos said.

Pierce nodded. "I'll go explain the issue to Rook and get everyone moving."

After Pierce strode away, Spiritua looked up at Kratos. "Do you think we will make it in time?"

"I don't know," Kratos said. "If we push hard, maybe."

* * *

It was raining. This made Lloyd's hair lie flat on his head and his bangs which usually bounced off his forehead now sat on the bridge of his nose like a damp slug. The rain had started when they were walking out in the open, effectively soaking them, but now they had moved into a tree-lined path. The trees didn't do much to stop the rain. Instead, the rain hit the branches and stopped just long enough to consolidate into giant drops before moving on down to Lloyd's head. To top it all off, they path they were walking on sloped gradually upward and with the rain the dirt road was turning to mud. Walking uphill in mud proved to be a challenge as every few steps his feet slid backwards.

"I don't like rain," Lloyd grumbled.

"Me neither," Colette said. Then she giggled and added, "But I quite like Professor Raine!"

Lloyd grinned. "Of course! Who doesn't?"

"This is what I was worried about," Kratos said. "Rain can make mountain paths treacherous and may slow our journey."

"At least we can fly," Colette said. "If it gets too bad, I mean."

"Perhaps," Kratos said. "But if there's lightning, flying would be much too dangerous."

Lloyd's grin faded and he glanced worriedly at Colette. "Do you think it will be dangerous to cross the mountains? Should we find another way?"

"The only other way is to find a ship to transport us by sea, and tracking one down would take even longer than crossing the mountains. As long as we move cautiously I'm sure we'll be fine."

"What about you and Spiritua and the Cleopolicans?" Lloyd asked. "What happened there? Did you make it in time?"

Kratos frowned. "No. We didn't."

* * *

A/N: I like how the last 6 chapters can basically be annotated with "Then it got worse". Tune in next time to see if things eventually get better! 


	12. Everyone Loves an Execution

And so, amidst the false promises and fake projects being announced across the internet on this April Fool's Day, here is an update that is actually honest. Also I'm done with all my classes for the year, so I just have to get through exams and then the free-time of summer shall open before me!

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Everyone Loves an Execution**

Lloyd stared at Kratos. "What do you mean, you didn't?"

"I mean exactly what I said." Kratos sounded grumpier than usual, and Lloyd wasn't sure if this was due to the rain or due to the fact that they'd reached a point in the story that he found aggravating to remember. "We were too late. By the time we reached Cleopolica, the Desians were already there."

"Oh no," Colette said, clutching her hands together and fiddling her hands. "Everything just keeps going wrong…"

Kratos nodded. "Things tend to do so when Desians are involved. In any case, we pushed as hard as we could to make it to Cleopolica in time. But there was no point in just Spiritua and myself getting there before the others, so we were delayed by having to stay at the pace of the caravan. I've never seen a caravan of women and children move that fast, but the Desians overtook us. In their benefit was also the fact that they took the main road straight to Cleopolica whereas we were trying to remain unseen by trekking through the woods. We were able to evade being found by the Desians, but it did slow us down.

"When we reached the path that led up to Cleopolica, we realized we were too late. We could see the Desians entering the town further up the mountain. I knew they would waste no time in rounding everyone up for the execution, so we were left with Pierce, Spiritua, weakened Cleopolican soldiers, pirates, ex-prisoners and myself to try and drive an entire force of Desians out of a town. To be entirely honest, I was ready to give up and go to the Balacruf Mausoleum-"

Lloyd glared at him.

Kratos added, "But I _didn't_, Lloyd. We were back at square one, so to say, and I could only hope that Spiritua would come up with another one of her brilliant schemes. As it happened, though, it was Pierce who thought of our plan this time."

* * *

"I kind of like the idea of being executed."

The expression Ferris gave Rowan might best be described as 'incredulous', but only because no language in the world had yet invented a term for the sheer amount of disbelief, confusion, and certainty that he must have heard wrong that Ferris was currently experiencing. Coupled with this look were two simple words: "Say again?"

Rowan smirked at Ferris' confusion and tried to explain. "There's _meaning_ in being executed. It's not random or an accident. Anyone can annoy Desians and get dragged around a corner and beaten to death, but to get properly executed like this… it means we accomplished something."

Ferris nodded in comprehension. "I suppose that's one way to look at it."

Rowan looked around at the Desians standing a few metres away, though none of them were paying any attention to them. Why bother? He and Ferris certainly weren't going anywhere. They sat with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, leaning against a great block of stone that Ferris said was supposed to be some mystical altar of some sort. A little to their left was a hastily erected gallows, which Rowan would be quite happy to keep off of for as long as possible. All around them were Desians, hanging around with their swords very obviously dangling from their waists as Cleopolican citizens were herded towards the altar. All around they could hear the wind whistling through the mountains, as if bemoaning the fate of the town.

The Desians had taken over the city fairly quickly upon arrival. Half the city's militia was either dead or with the pirates, including their commander. As such, the under-staffed and unprepared militia was easily over-powered and the ones that weren't dead had been locked in their own cells. The civilians were rounded up and all of them were being taken to the altar to watch the execution, after which they'd all be taken to the ranch. Either that, or killed on sight. Rowan wasn't sure which, and he wasn't sure which was preferable.

The only thing that comforted Rowan in the slightest was the knowledge that whatever happened, at least Spiritua got away. One of the Desians had gleefully told them that Kratos had come to rescue Spirit but chose to leave them to die. Rowan supposed this was intended to make him feel bad, but he was just glad that Spirit was ok.

The Desians around them parted a bit to allow Dagen to come through. She strode forward with her head held high, acting like she owned this city. Of course, at the moment, she did. What bothered Rowan was that she was smiling, and in his experience, a happy Desian was never a good thing.

"Vale!" she barked as she crossed the open area in front of the altar.

Vale appeared from around the gallows, and didn't even look Rowan's way. Rowan was ok with this, because catching his might interrupt the death glare Rowan was currently aiming at him. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Have you rooted out all the humans in town?"

"I believe so."

"You _believe_ so?" she snapped, and Vale seemed to shrink a bit in the face of her wrath. It made Rowan feel fuzzy inside to watch one of the people he hated most in the entire word get cut down like this, even if it was due to another of the people on the World's Biggest Bastards Who Needed To Die Horribly Right Now list. "Did I ask you if you _believed_ you've found them all? No. Either you did or you didn't. Did you? Yes or no."

"Er…" Watching Vale struggle to decide which answer would be more destructive to himself if it happened to be wrong. When he did speak, it was long and drawn out and he sounded like he was about to switch words halfway through. The end result was a word that was more akin to the garbled sounds of a dying animal than an actual word: "Yeeee-nnnn-eeess…?"

Dagen glared.

Vale composed himself. "I mean, yes. Yes, ma'am. Desian troops have patrolled ever street of this town and we are certain that we have herded together every man, woman, and child in this city."

"Good. For your sake, you had better hope you picked the right answer."

She walked away, leaving Vale staring at the space she had once occupied with a very frightened look on his face. Vale walked over to the nearest Desian and said, "You. Double check that we've got everybody."

The Desians looked confused. "But, sir, we've already swept the town twice."

"I don't care; search it again!"

The Desians sighed. "As you wish, sir," and trooped away.

Once Dagen and Vale were gone, Rowan and Ferris were once again left with nothing to do but watch the crowds of frightened people crowding the tiered ledges leading up to the altar. Rowan didn't know exactly what Dagen had planned for them, but it couldn't be good. Either she'd kill them all or enslave them all at the ranch, and to be honest, he wasn't sure which was better. The worst part was, if all of these people died, it would be his fault, in a way. He had known Dagen had a precedent for crushing the hometown of escapees, and yet he'd still gone forward with their escape attempt. He and Ferris both had been so selfish about getting themselves out, they hadn't even thought about the consequences for Cleopolica afterwards.

"Ferris, did you ever predict this?" he asked. "You know… them attacking Cleopolica afterwards?"

Ferris frowned, his gaze on the terrified crowd gathered not too far away. "To be honest, I did wonder if there would be retaliation. In retrospect it's obvious that they would attack, but from within the ranch the only thing that kept me going as the thought of getting out." He sighed. "I guess you could accuse me of being an optimist. Did you predict any of this?"

Rowan looked down at the ground with a furrowed brow. Had he predicted this? No, not in so many details. He'd certainly been feeling cynical about their chances of succeeding, though, and the thought of retaliation on Cleopolica had hardly crossed his mind. All he said, though, was, "Dagen having boobs was a surprise."

Soon after, Dagen reappeared on the scene. She stood at the top of the steps that led all the way up to the altar and looked down at the gathered humans. She had her back to Rowan and Ferris so they couldn't see her face, but Rowan could imagine the triumphant smirk that must surely be on her face.

"Hello, humans," she said. "I must say, so far I have greatly enjoyed my visit to your pathetic little town. Now then, I'm sure you have all heard by now that the other day, your friends and families in my ranch decided they valued their own freedom more than yours. I am sure I issued a warning many years ago that any attempt at escape would result in the eradication of everyone in their hometown."

Frightened murmuring took off like wildfire through the crowds. The gathered humans shuffled as they looked around for a way to escape, by Desians closed them in on all sides.

"Allow me to show you the inferior being responsible for this, so that you will know who to blame for your despair."

She turned her head and gestured with her hand at some of the Desians standing behind her. A pair of Desians jumped to attention and marched over to Rowan and Ferris. They were pulled to their feet and then shoved forward to start walking toward the gallows.

The steps creaked as they walked up them and the planks of the platform itself seemed unstable. This might have been a result of the way everything seemed kind of unreal as Rowan stood up there within feet of the noose. He realized that up until now, he'd held onto the hope that someone would save them. It was suddenly sinking in that he was really going to die; that this really was the end. Everything felt surreal. The strong wind on his face reminded him that right now he was alive, but soon he wouldn't be able to feel anything at all.

"So, everyone," Dagen said. "When you curse me and blame the Desians for your misfortune, remember that we're only here because of your very own Lieutenant Ferris."

Next to him on the platform, Rowan heard Ferris mutter, "What a bitch…"

That comment probably deserved the Understatement of the Year award.

"But I am not a merciless woman," Dagen said. "For you see, I shall not exterminate every last filthy human in this town. I am simply going to decimate you."

Rowan glanced at Ferris in confusion and whispered, "Isn't that the exact same thing?"

From the look of fury and frustration on Ferris' face, it wasn't.

"To put it in more simple terms for you primitive humans, I shall reduce your population by one-tenth. Every single human in this town is to be taken to the ranch, and as you line up to walk through the gates, every tenth prisoner will be killed. I think that ought to teach you a lesson, don't you think?"

"I'm gonna kill her," Ferris growled.

Rowan snorted. "Good luck with that."

"But before we march you all to our ranch," Dagen was saying, "first you will witness the fates of those who would plot against me."

Rowan's heart skipped a beat. This was it. He was really going to die any minute now. He happened to be standing on Ferris' left, making him first in line for the noose. That was hardly fair! Why did he have to go first?

He was seriously considering protesting this issue when a deathly silence settled over the crowd. At first he thought everyone was sobering up out of respect for the fact that he was about to die, but when everyone's heads turned to look back down the steps he realized he wasn't quite that important.

Someone else was coming into the scene, and that someone was attracting the eyes of every person in the area. From where he stood up on the platform, Rowan had a very good view of who was striding confidently up the steps. Despite the fact that he was moments away from execution, he found himself being very glad that he wasn't on the Desians' side, because the look of fury on Pierce's face was one of the most intimidating things he had ever seen.

Pierce came to a stop at the lowest tier of the steps just beyond the ring of Desian guards. He stood broad-shouldered with his feet planted firmly in the ground. His sword hung in its scabbard and he made no move to draw it. Sunlight gleamed on his polished breastplate. Dagen appeared unsettled by his appearance. It wasn't so much that he was clearly a force to be reckoned with – it was that he was a solitary man standing resolutely before a small army of Desians, with the attitude and confidence of someone with an entire battalion behind them. That kind of confidence was unnerving when you couldn't see where it came from.

"Who are you?" Dagen asked, crossing her arms and glaring down the steps at him. Everyone in the crowd had moved aside, clearing a straight opening down the stairs to give her a clear view of him. Even the Desians seemed hesitant to draw near.

"My name is Captain Pierce Asgard of the Cleopolica militia," he said in a voice loud and clear. "And this is my city. _Get out_."

Dagen cocked her head slightly. "No." Then she nodded to one of the Desians closest to Pierce. "I don't have time for this. Bring him up here and we'll kill him with the other two."

"Yes, ma'am!" the pair of Desians at the base of the steps said. They started walking towards Pierce with their swords out, but the captain made no move to either run or attack. Rowan considered shouting at him to do something, but just as he was about to open his mouth, the Desians exploded.

Wait. That couldn't be right. Surely he had seen wrong. Rowan would have rubbed his eyes had they not been handcuffed behind his back. Everyone else in attendance was staring in shock as well, so maybe it hadn't been a trick of his eyes. The two Desians in question lie on the ground, covered in burns. Rowan couldn't tell if they were alive or not, but he certainly wouldn't want to have been in their positions when the earth had opened up without warning and spat flaming rocks and fire at them.

"I should mention," Pierce said calmly as smoke drifted up from the scorched Desians, "that this entire area is underlain with landmines. There mines were a special invention of a dwarf friend of mine. Amazing what dwarves can do, isn't it? I have just returned from a trip up the mountain to ask her to activate them. They explode based on the mana signature of whoever steps on them, meaning they will only ignite for half-elves."

"That's ridiculous," Dagen scoffed. "No such thing exists."

Pierce raised an eyebrow. "Are you willing to risk it? If you and your Desians calmly march out of this city right now and never return, I will show you what path to take that is safe."

"Capture this human," Dagen commanded.

The next batch of Desians who tried to get near Pierce met the same fate as the first two, and subsequent Desians hovered a few yards away, quite hesitant to attempt to get near him.

"I gave you your chance," Pierce said. "You leave me no choice but to retake my city by force."

Dagen laughed. "I'd like to see you try, human. Your little army of escapees doesn't frighten me." Dagen could see just as clearly as Rowan that from behind Pierce, every Cleopolican soldier who had escaped the ranch was marching into town, armed with weaponry borrowed from the pirates.

"Are you really going to try and attack while I have your entire town held hostage?" Dagen asked.

"No," Pierce said. "We can wait a few minutes."

"For what, may I ask?"

Another explosion shattered the tension. This time the burst of heat and stone had appeared right in the middle of the Desian ranks, sending Desians scrambling out the way. This movement sparked another explosion about thirty seconds later.

"The more you scramble around, the more you set off our mines!" Pierce was grinning now as the chaos in the Desians ranks grew greater and greater. The explosions were spaced out by thirty seconds to a minute, and Desians pushed and shoved each other to try and get away from the dense mass of soldiers, where every eruption killed or injured at least five men.

"Stop it!" Dagen shouted, struggling to be heard over the shouting Desians and explosions. "They're not mines! That's nonsense! This is human trickery!"

Her words weren't accomplishing very much, though. The Desians' survival instinct had overridden the need to obey the Cardinal's orders, and the ranks of orderly Desians had become an every-man-for-himself mob of terrified half-elves. The humans they were surrounding were just as scared, and tried to get as far away from the Desians as possible. They pushed at each other to try and get closer to the altar, and Rowan found himself feeling very glad to be standing on a platform up above the chaos unfolding below.

"I think we ought to get out of here," Ferris said.

"I'm with you on that!" They turned around to make a break across the stone altar, but then Rowan heard the planks creak as a Desian jumped after them.

"This is your fault, you maggots!" he yelled, raising his sword.

Rowan dropped to his knees to duck, but he ended up not needing to when the next burst of fire erupted right in front of him, consuming the Desian. He screamed and dropped his sword before falling to the ground, covered in burns. The platform itself caught fire as well, so Rowan and Ferris scrambled back onto the stone altar to avoid the flames.

"There is no way these are land mines," Ferris said. "Land mines do _not_ erupt on an elevated wooden platform exactly when it's convenient for us!"

"I was thinking that too," Rowan said. "They keep going off at a consistent pace. If they were really activated by stepping on them, they'd be getting faster and faster as the chaos spreads."

"So what do you think it is?"

Rowan grinned he they stopped at the far end of the platform. Ferris jumped down first, and Rowan took a glance up at the rocky mountainside around them. "I think someone nearby is using magic."

He hopped down as well and the pair leaned against the stone, catching their breath. Their hands were still tied, but they were out of immediate danger now that they were somewhat hidden behind the altar. "And considering I only know one person who can use magic who isn't a Desian, I have a pretty good guess who it might be."

* * *

"They've just run to the other side of the altar," Kratos said before charging up another Eruption. Spiritua peeked around the edge of the boulder they were hiding behind just in time to see Rowan's head duck down on the other side.

"Eruption." Another blast rocked the Desians. By now they were spreading out from the altar. Pierce and his soldiers were doing their best protect the citizens as they fled, and the constant Eruptions from Kratos were doing a good job of keeping the Desians sufficiently distracted. What Spiritua was mostly worried about was the fact that the grass in front of the altar had caught fire and was steadily spreading toward the steps. The stairs were stone so she hoped that the fire would be contained to the area around the altar. Still, she needed to get Rowan and Ferris out of there before the fire consumed the entire area.

"I'm going," she said.

Kratos nodded. "Be careful. I'll meet up with you at the pirate's caravan."

Spiritua took out her wings and launched into the air. She kept her eyes locked on her destination so that she wouldn't have to look down at the people running around like panicking ants, because seeing the ground far below tended to make her stomach do backflips.

Luckily there was so much chaos down on the ground that nobody was paying enough attention to bother looking up. She flew unnoticed over their heads toward the altar and came down right next to Rowan.

Rowan jumped when he saw her and swore loudly. "Spirit! What are you doing here?"

She raised the lock pick she'd borrowed from Rook. "How do I use this?"

"Give me that," Rowan said, turning around and reaching with one of his bound hands.

"I can help."

"I can do it faster." She rolled her eyes but handed over the lock pick. Rowan fiddled around trying to get the thin piece of wire into the hole and Spirit wondered why couldn't have just told her what to do. Of course, if he had done so she probably would have suspected him of being an imposter.

A minute later his hands sprang free and he went to release Ferris. "How are we going to get out of here?" Ferris asked.

Rowan shrugged. "I think the Desians are too worried about blowing up to stop us."

Ferris frowned, but nodded. "I think you're right. The only way down from up here is down the main steps. We'll just have to make a run for it."

The three of them rounded the altar and hurried back around to the front of it. When they got there, they found that there weren't nearly as many Desians as they had thought there were The fighting had spread out from the steps and was now mostly concentrated on the wide dirt roads in the town proper. Meanwhile, the dry summer grass around the altar burned, sending pillars of smoke into the air.

"We need to get down from here, pronto," Ferris said, holding his arm over his face to block the smoke. Spirit and rowan followed his example as they ran across the edge of open area, trying to keep as far back from the fire as possible.

They reached the steps and took them two or three at a time in their rush to get down. Down below, the humans appeared to be winning. Kratos was still higher up the mountain slope, blasting the Desians left right and center. The humans fought much more viciously, and they actually outnumbered the Desians when one took into account the fact that all the able-bodied civilians had grabbed whatever weapons they could out of the nearest houses to join the fray, beating Desians back with frying pans and chair legs. They also had the advantage of knowing the streets and terrain perfectly, whereas the Desians had to stick to the main boulevards to avoid getting lost.

And then, when Spirit and the other two were about half way down the stairs, the wind changed. Spirit felt the change immediately, but she didn't think much of it, other than that it was annoying to have her hair suddenly blow in her face when it had previously been blowing it back. But the fact was, the wind was now blowing in the direction of the town, and up above, the burning embers of grass got picked up in the wind and blown down onto the rooftops of the town.

"That's not good," Ferris said, pausing when they reached the bottom. The roofs of the nearest houses were burning, and it wouldn't take long for the flames to leap across to the next roof. Cleopolica would ordinarily have a fire department to take care of this, but all its members were currently fighting the Desians, leaving the flames to burn unchecked. Hungry tongues of flame leapt between the dry wooden shingles of houses, sending sparks and smoke into the burning air.

"Nothing we can do about it right now," Rowan said. "Come on, we need to get out of here." He took hold of Spirit's hand and started running for the town's exit. The main road out, though, was the site of the majority of the fighting. Getting through unscathed would be next to impossible.

"There's a side road we can use to get out," Ferris said. "It leads to a smaller path down the mountain the re-joins the main one after circling the gorge."

"Take us there," Rowan said.

Ferris nodded and took off in the opposite direction, leading them further into town. There was less fighting in this direction, but this was also the direction the fire was heading. The air was thick with smoke and every breath burned Spirit's lungs. They ran through town as fast as they could, leaving behind the rage of the battle. The streets were narrower now since they were passing through a residential area.

Spirit heard the cracking first, but Rowan and Ferris reacted only seconds later. The two-story home they were running past gave way as fire consumed the bottom floor, sending burning debris toppling down onto the street right towards them. Rowan shoved Spirit hard in the back, sending her flying forward before stumbling to her knees. She heard the burning timber smash into the ground right behind her and felt the rush of hot wind on the back of her neck.

As soon as the debris stopped falling, she jumped to her feet and looked around. Ferris stood next to her, coughing and just getting to his feet as well, but alright. Rowan was nowhere to be seen.

"Rowan?"

"I'm here!" he called back on the other side of the burning pile of refuse. A good portion of a wall had fallen, quite effectively barricading the street.

Ferris called, "We're both fine over here; are you hurt?"

"No," Rowan barked. "I'm f-fine."

His voice cracked just a bit. Obviously he was hurt, but not badly enough to be crippling. Probably a mild burn on one of his limbs. Spirit looked up and considered flying over to join him on that side, but it was hard enough to breathe the air down here; flying any higher would be suicide.

"You guys keep going," Rowan said. "I'll find another road and join you later, ok?"

Spirit circled her fists in frustration. She had finally gotten Rowan back, but now they were getting split up again.

"You guys be careful," Rowan said. "Ferris, take care of my sister."

"Will do," Ferris said in an as cheerful voice as he could muster. "Look after yourself. We'll see you later."

Spirit didn't bother saying goodbye to Rowan. She was going to see him again in just a couple hours when they reunited, and saying a goodbye felt much too final. She would only say goodbye if she knew it was really their last, and this definitely wasn't that. And so she followed Ferris without a word, speeding toward the exit.


	13. Taking Back the City

I have a problem. I have been playing Sims 3, and spent far more time making sure my sim completed her novel than I did working on mine. I am sorry, but I'm sure anyone who has played Sims can relate.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Taking Back the City**

Rowan was injured, but Spirit had been right: it wasn't crippling. His calf was burned, but he could still walk. He took a deep breath through his sleeve and then turned to try and find another way.

The streets were narrow and surrounded by fire, and every side road he passed was too dangerous. He considered making a run for it and trying to get through these fiery alleys anyway, but the stinging pain in his leg told him that he couldn't run fast enough and he really didn't want another burn. What he really wanted was a weapon, so that he could fight his way through Desians and just go out the main entrance.

As he got closer to the sounds of fighting, the heat pressing in from all sides gradually died down. The buildings around here had mostly burned already, leaving only charred wood and stone foundations. There was still a lot of smoke in the air, though, so he couldn't breathe easily yet.

"Why is this so difficult for you?" an angry voice said from up ahead. Rowan stopped before turned the corner, and wanted to kick himself for the way his heart had skipped a beat and a rush of fear and gone through him for a moment upon hearing it. He knew that voice; it was Vale. There was no reason to be afraid of Vale, he told himself. Still, he didn't particularly want to run into him when he was alone, unarmed, and limping slightly from a burned calf.

"S-sorry, sir," said another Desian. "We're doing the best we can, but the humans are fighting really hard, and then the fire hit our stronghold in the town hall and we lost a lot of men and all our supplies…"

"Don't give me your excuses! Do you think that kind of excuse would work for Dagen?"

"N-no, sir."

"Then go tell your troops that failure is not an option. Get going!"

"Yes, sir!"

Rowan heard running footsteps, and then silence. He waited for about five minutes around the corner, making sure he couldn't hear any sign of Vale or other Desians before continuing on his way. When he was sure he couldn't hear any more voices, he hurried around the corner.

Vale sat on a chunk of fallen wall, smoking a cigar. Rowan froze as Vale looked up, and they spent a very long ten seconds staring at each other. Vale reacted first, standing up and throwing his cigar down with a growl of, "_You_."

This was Rowan's cue to take off running in the opposite direction. Vale had a sword and he did not, meaning that to stand and fight would be suicide. He rounded the corner with Vale hot on his heels, and made the quick decision to dive through the doorway of a mostly still-standing building. He was hoping that within the building he would have better luck at losing Vale than he did in the open street.

The building was composed of stone walls around the edges and charred wooden walls separating rooms. The second floor was still in place, but the wood was blackened and there were gaping holes in some places. Rowan found himself in a living room with charred and ashen furniture. Clearly the house had belonged to a wealthy family, because the scraps of fabric remaining were luxurious and there were finely painted vases on the stone mantle that hadn't burned.

He ducked behind a couch, hoping Vale would search the rest of the house for him and give him a chance to make a run for it. When Vale entered, however, he stood in the doorway with his sword out and peered around the room.

"I know you're in here, boy," Vale growled. "You can't run from me."

The house creaked as Vale stomped into the room, the fragile structure shuddering in the wake of his fury. Vale was getting closer to the couch, and Rowan knew he was going to be discovered any second now.

Well, damn if he was going to get killed crouching behind a couch like a coward. As soon as Vale came level with the side of the couch, Rowan lunged at him. He crashed into the man and sent both of them toppling to the floor. Rowan took this opportunity to pound his fists into Vale's face, chest, and neck, trying to cause as much pain and damage as was physically possible. He was hurting his own knuckles from the force of his blows, but that hardly mattered right now. Vale needed to pay for all the people he'd hurt, including Rowan himself.

Sticking around to beat Vale up was probably a bad idea. He could have made a run for it when Vale was down, but the chance to hurt him had been too tempting. And so Vale got a hold of himself and slashed his sword at Rowan.

Rowan dove out of the way and avoided the blade, but Vale got to his feet first and grabbed the front of Rowan's shirt. He was grinning, which was a rather disturbing expression when coupled with the blood running down his face. "Oh, am I glad I caught you, boy. When I'm through with you, you're going to wish you never left the ranch."

Vale took a couple steps and slammed Rowan against the wooden wall separating the living room from the kitchen. Rowan winced as the house groaned and complained about the abuse.

"I would _love_ to kill you right now, but unfortunately for you, Dagen wants you alive."

Rowan forced a grin. "Lucky me."

Vale back-handed him, smashing his head back against the wall. The wall creaked one more time, and then got fed up with people smashing it when it was already burned and if people weren't going to appreciate it, well, it wasn't going to be a wall for them any longer.

Everything happened very fast. One second Rowan was pressed between a wall and Vale's fury, and the next the wall had fallen backward. Rowan fell flat on his back. The roof came crumbling down after the wall. He tried rolling out of the way but a thick and heavy ceiling beam crashed straight down onto his forearm.

Rowan lay on the cracked and broken wall, surrounded by splinters and chunks of charred wood, with his left arm firmly pinned under a foot-thick ceiling beam. He could see the sky through a hole in the roof up above, until his view was interrupted by Vale's sneering face. The Desian had gotten out of the roof collapse unscathed, and was looking pretty thrilled about the fact that Rowan had not.

But Rowan was not going to take this lying down. Well, actually, he was because the beam was preventing him from getting up, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to do anything about it. With his non-injured leg he aimed a kick straight up between Vale's legs and grinned in delight when Vale's face contorted in pain.

While Vale was distracted, Rowan reached out with his right hand and grasped as a solid looking chunk of wood. It had splintered off from a floorboard and one end of it seemed pretty sharp. He didn't take an extra second to question his actions and simply rammed the make-shift stake up, straight for Vale's throat.

The wood pierced his neck, and Rowan kept his angry eyes locked on Vale's as the Desian garbled and gushed blood. Rowan jerked his arm and shoved him aside, letting the body crumple a few feet away. Then he tried to wipe the blood off his face, but considering the pierced throat had been right over him, all he really did was smear it around.

Vale was dead. Rowan could hardly believe it, but he couldn't deny that he was thrilled. That bastard deserved everything he got. In fact, Rowan wished he'd have the chance to stab him forty-nine more times to properly pay him back for everything he'd done to Rowan. Staked through the jugular would have to do, though.

And now that Vale was taken care of, Rowan really didn't know what to do. He tried to move his arm, which did nothing but send a wave of pain from his fingertips all the way up to his shoulder. He was still mostly numb, and wasn't looking forward to the adrenaline going away and leaving him to feel every single one of his number of injuries. Right now, though, he was tired. He was sore, exhausted, under-fed and a bit dehydrated, and he'd been running at full steam for the past couple of days with only the negligible rest he had been able to get in the ranch. He just didn't have the energy to get up right now. He put his head back and took a deep breath. He'd figure out what to do later, after just a short rest….

* * *

"Lloyd!" Kratos barked, grabbed the strap of his suspenders and yanking him away from the edge. "Don't do that."

"S-sorry, Dad," Lloyd said, paling under the furious glare Kratos was giving him. Lloyd had just been trying to get a good look at the valley down below. They were on a mountain path that hugged the side of the mountain before dropping quite suddenly into a steep valley. It fascinated Lloyd to be able to look down at the tops of trees, with a narrow, twisting stream barely visible at the very bottom. Unfortunately, his attempts to peer over the edge proved to be quite dangerous in the pouring rain and if Kratos hadn't pulled him back just in time he would have needed to pull his wings out very fast.

"Be careful, Lloyd!" Colette said, clutching her hands together. "You almost fell!"

"Heh, sorry. But man, will it ever stop raining?" Lloyd asked.

"Presumably," Kratos said. "It usually does eventually."

Lloyd rolled his eyes at Kratos' back as they continued on their journey. The road curved inward around the bend in the mountains, but even if it was straight Lloyd wouldn't have been able to see much through the torrents of rain. "You know what I mean, Dad."

Before Kratos could respond, the path was illuminated by a crack of lightning and a rumble of thunder only seconds behind. Kratos glanced up at the skies with a troubled face. "I don't like the lightning, though. It's getting too close."

Lloyd agreed with that statement. His hair looked normal right now, because the static in the air from the lightning was cancelling out the rain that usually made it lie flat. Having lightning sizzling through the air not too far away reminded him of when they were in the Temple of Lightning. Lloyd had personal experience with getting zapped by lightning (he'd charged right ahead into what Raine had called an obvious trap) and he didn't look forward to replicating the experience now.

"We might have to stop and find shelter if this keeps up," Kratos said. "Oh, damn."

"Huh? What's wrong?" Lloyd scooted to the side so that he could see what Kratos was referring to. When he did, his heart sank. The path they were following narrowed a bit as it went around the curve, but where they were supposed to walk was now a small waterfall. Rainwater gushed down the side of the mountain, carrying mud and rocks with it. They couldn't see how far the road was washing out but it seemed to be a good thirty feet at least.

"Uh-oh," Colette said. "What should we do?"

Kratos stared at what had once been the road for a few seconds, blocking out all other distractions as he tried to decide on a plan. Then lightning struck again and the immediately following thunder vibrated in Lloyd's chest. This snapped Kratos to attention.

"It's too dangerous to fly," he said. "With lightning in the air we need to stay grounded. We're going to have to turn back and find another way around."

"Aw, man," Lloyd groaned. "That's going to take forever!"

"Nevertheless," Kratos said, "it is our only option."

Lloyd grumbled a bit more, but shut up immediately when Kratos shot him a look. And so with heavy hearts and tired feet, they turned around and began backtracking, trying to find another road through the mountains.

* * *

Kratos ran down the streets of Cleopolica. There was too much chaos in the city now to risk using magic without hitting the Cleopolicans, so it was time to join the battle. As he dashed between smoky buildings and cut down the Desians that tried to stop him, his thoughts drifted to what became known is the 67th Battle of Meltokio.

Meltokio had been invaded countless times during the nine hundred years of the Kharlan War, but Kratos only lived to see one of them; the last one. It had been both the last time Sylvarant would siege the capital city before Mithos ended the war, and the last time Kratos would fight as a member of the knighthood, as he'd left to join Mithos immediately after. That battle had ended with Meltokio victorious, but only in the sense that the Sylvaranti left. A large percentage of the population had been killed and a third of the city had been burnt to the ground, not including the other third that had been sacked. He hoped that this battle wouldn't come at such a high cost.

At the end of the street he saw a pile of chairs, doors, fence-posts, and anything else people had managed to drag from their homes to form a crude barricade. The humans who weren't fighting but hadn't been able to get out of the city were hiding behind it while the fighters ran through the streets, trying to force the Desians out. If Pierce was anywhere, he was probably behind the barricade, commanding the battle.

Kratos pulled out his wings and took flight, flying over the heads of Desians who stared up at him incredulously. The humans beyond the barricade were even more surprised to see a winged man flying over their defenses, and raised their weapons to attack until Pierce said, "Hold your fire; he's on our side."

Pierce sat on an overturned crate with a roughly drawn map of the city on the ground before him. The map was covered in rough pencil sketches marking where both human and Desian combatants were.

"Nice to see you, Kratos," Pierce said as he looked up. "I owe you a thanks for your explosions earlier."

Kratos had not time for small talk and jumped right to the point. "We need to end this battle as quickly as possible."

"I am aware of that. What do you suggest?"

"I think getting rid of Dagen would be a good start."

Pierce nodded. "It would certainly help. Do you think it will decisively end the battle though?"

"If we make enough of a show of it. Make sure every Desians knows that their leader is dead and that they had better run or they will be next."

"It's as good a plan as any." He pushed himself up off the crate, one hand resting on his side. "I'll take care of Dagen."

Kratos eyed him as Pierce drew his sword. "You're still recovering from your wound. Are you certain you are up for this?"

Pierce frowned, uncertainty showing on his face. "I believe I can do it. I've used countless Apple Gels and even if it's sore, I'm not worried that it will re-open."

"I'd feel uneasy letting you go alone. I will accompany you."

"Alright. Between the two of us, Dagen shouldn't be too much of a problem." He turned to face a soldier standing to his right, who perked to attention when Pierce suddenly looked at him. "Lieutenant Aes, you're in command here until I get back, or unless Ferris shows up." Pierce looked back at Kratos. "You don't happen to know where Ferris is, do you?"

Kratos shook his head. "The Chosen went after him and Rowan, but I have not seen any evidence of where the three of them are now."

Pierce frowned. "I suppose the only thing we can do for them now is hope. Well, that and kill Dagen."

"Let us get to that, then," Kratos said.

* * *

"We're going to stop for the night," Kratos said when they found on overhanging rock that blocked them from the rain. Lloyd shook his head like a dog and shivered. Today had been an exceptionally miserable day, so stopping somewhere dry was a relief. Even with the overhang, rain still whipped under the edge and hit them from the sides. It was better than being stuck out in the open, though.

"We d-don't have any wood for a fire, do we?" Colette asked, sitting down and leaning against the side of the mountains. She hugged her knees to her chest and shivered.

Kratos shook his head. "No. Even if there was any around, there's no way it would catch in this downpour."

"Dad," Lloyd said as he sat down next to Colette, "are you _sure_ we won't have to resort to cannibalism?"

Kratos rolled his eyes. "Yes, Lloyd. I'm sure. This may be inconvenient, but we're not trapped."

"Well that's good." Lloyd leaned next to Colette, trying to share body warmth with her. This had nothing on the days they'd spent in Flanoir, but it was still vastly less comfortable than the pleasant days spent hiking through the summer fields a few days ago.

"I'm not going to talk much more tonight," Kratos said, sitting down across from them. He was closest to the edge of the overhang and thus bore the brunt of the rain, but he didn't seem to mind. "It's already getting late."

"Aw, come on, Dad," Lloyd said, giving him pleading eyes. "At least tell us what happened with you and Dagen."

"Yes, Kratos," Colette said. "You can't stop here!"

"Hmph." He rummaged in his bag to find food for dinner. "Fine. Not too much longer, though."

* * *

"There isn't another way up to the altar?" Kratos asked, peering around a building at the stone steps. Dagen was at the top commanding her troops, and would see them coming right away if they just charged up the steps.

"Unfortunately no," Pierce said.

"Hm… this makes things trickier." It would be suicidal to run up the steps straight at her. They'd be shot dead before they were halfway up. Flying was a possibility, but there was still so much smoke in the air that could be dangerous and potentially lethal as well.

"We will have to simply walk up," he said. "I will unveil my wings; they will think twice before shooting an angel of Cruxis."

"And what of myself?" Pierce asked.

"Stand behind me. If we walk up with weapons sheathed, they may think we are on our way to make a truce."

Pierce frowned. "That seems quite dishonourable. If we're going to do that, we should at least offer a truce and attack only if she refuses."

"She won't back down," Kratos said. "Suggesting peace is a useless endeavour."

"But feigning non-aggression with the intention to attack right-out is a war crime, and I cannot abide by that."

The two men glared at each other for a few seconds, each daring the other to back down. Pierce wouldn't, though, because Kratos knew that he couldn't. He had a position of great power and authority in this city, and to commit a clearly negative act in such a public manner would cause him to lose the respect he had. If that happened he could lose his authority and the last thing Cleopolica needed right now was for one of the leading members of the community to fall from grace.

"I understand," Kratos said. "We will give her the chance to surrender. You realize, of course, that she won't take it."

"I know," Pierce said. "But we have to give her the chance. That's what makes us different from her."

Kratos pulled out his wings and strode out into the open. With Pierce close behind him, he marched straight for the stairs leading up to the altar. It was nerve-wracking to have to keep his sword sheathed, but it was important that they appear to be coming in the name of peace. Not that Kratos would be adverse to peace of Dagen agreed, he just knew that she'd rather see every Desian under her command dead before surrendering to humans.

At the top of the stairs, Desians raised their crossbows and aimed, but Dagen held up her hand and in a loud voice commanded, "Stand down. We can't go around shooting Cruxis angels, now, can we?"

The Desians looked like they'd very much enjoy shooting Cruxis angels, but they didn't dare go against Dagen's orders.

When Kratos and Pierce reached the top, Dagen stood before them. "Welcome, My Lord," she said with a condescending smirk. Kratos gave her a hard look, silently reminding her not to hint at a relationship between Cruxis and the Desians in front of Pierce. "What purpose does Cruxis have intruding in our affairs?"

"There has been enough bloodshed here today," Kratos said. "I advise you to leave Cleopolica and put an end to this."

Dagen crossed her arms. "No."

Pierce stepped out from behind Kratos. "Your side has lost just as many men as we have," he said. "It is in both our interests to put an end to this battle."

"Desians do not surrender to humans," Dagen said.

"Use common sense! You return to your ranch and leave us in peace, and we can both agree not to invade each other's territory again. We don't need to continue fighting."

"I am not interested in making a treaty with humans. I will not compromise. I want to decimate this town and leaving while humans still live here is not an option."

Kratos glanced at Pierce, who returned the look. He was done. He'd made his attempt at proposing a truce, and Dagen had, predictably, turned him down. They were now free to kill her.

Kratos drew his sword and slashed at Dagen in one quick move, but she managed to jump back just in time. The Desians raised their weapons and started to move forward while Dagen herself raised her sword, but she barked at them, "Stay back! I don't need any help to handle a couple of humans!"

Kratos smiled to himself. Dagen's arrogance was going to be very helpful to them. He pressed forward, intending to drive her back against the altar. To his advantage he had Pierce to back him up, though the commander was still slower than usual due to the lingering effects of his wound. Dagen was a skilled fighter, though, so this would be far from an easy fight.

It was frustrating how Dagen was able to block every single blow Kratos threw at her. Kratos' ears rang from the constant clanging of their swords, which sounded doubly loud thanks to the vacuum of silence from the enraptured Desians watching the battle. Kratos couldn't land a hit on Dagen, and she couldn't hit him either. Eventually, one of them would have to give, and Kratos could only hope it would be her.

Dagen was getting close to the altar, but a quick glance over her shoulder showed that she knew it too. Her sword slashed out at Kratos' face, forcing him to step backward to avoid getting hit. In the couple moments of peace Dagen got, she summoned up some magic and shouted, "Grave!"

Kratos leapt into the air, aided by his wings. While he was in the air, Dagen turned her attention to Pierce. Dagen was stronger than him, so Kratos hurried back down before she could kill him. "Super Sonic Thrust!"

Dagen stepped backward just in time, causing his sword to uselessly graze her stomach. They were closer to the steps then the altar now, and from the angle they were at it would be easier to drive her towards the stairs now.

Kratos pushed forward, attacking with great ferocity. Dagen was forced to move backward to avoid his onslaught, and Kratos hoped she'd find herself tripping down the stairs.

Dagen grunted and used her left hand to wipe blood from her cheek. "You might think you're an angel, Kratos," she seethed through gritted teeth, "but to me you'll always be nothing more than a human who doesn't know his place."

Kratos didn't respond. He wasn't about to rise to her taunting. She was trying to rile him up because she knew the battle was turning in Kratos' favour.

"Oh, sure you're a hundred years old now," she said, "but I'm a half-elf, and I was killing you inferior beings when you were still in diapers."

Kratos caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Dagen didn't notice it, because Dagen wasn't bothering to pay any attention to Pierce. He was, after all, just an ordinary human and therefore far below Dagen's attention. Kratos didn't watch Pierce, either, just in case Dagen turned to see where Kratos' eyes were looking. Kratos focused solely on Dagen, on working her ever closer to the stairs. She hadn't wounded him at all yet and he knew that that infuriated her. She was losing her cool and taking more risks, but still wouldn't' consider telling her Desians to help her. Such a show of weakness would ruin her.

"You know what your problem is?" she panted to Kratos.

He replied evenly, "No; do tell."

"You have more power than is fitting for your race. You won't be able to keep control of it because eventually nature will demand that you fall back into the mud where humans belong."

Once again, Kratos refused to answer. He blocked another blow from Dagen, and felt a moment of satisfaction at the fleeting expression of rage on her face when she failed to draw blood once more.

"You humans," she growled, and then punctuated each word with another blow of her sword, "Need – to – learn – your – _hurk_."

Kratos stopped as shock crossed Dagen's face, leaving agony in its wake. Behind her was Pierce, with a look of grim satisfaction on his face. The top of the altar was deadly silent. The Desians surrounding them were frozen in shock, and even Kratos stepped back and stood silently.

Pierce was the only one moving. He turned and twisted his sword, yanking it out of Dagen's back. Then he shoved her body and let it topple down the stairs, leaving a swash of blood smeared down the steps. She was dead before she reached the first landing.

Kratos chose to break the silence. He sheathed his sword and looked around at the Desians gathered. "Cruxis has spoken," he said in a loud voice. "Dagen is an enemy of Cruxis and we will no longer tolerate her. The ranch will be disbanded. Any Desian still here had better run, because the angels of Cruxis will not tolerate any of you being seen around again."

Did Kratos have the authority to do that? No. Absolutely not. Mithos was going to be furious. But at the moment, Kratos couldn't bring himself to care about that.

The Desians took about thirty seconds staring at him and debating their options, and then in a mass exodus, they took off. They dashed down the steps and took off through the streets, followed by all the other Desians who had either seen the spectacle or were just following the others.

Kratos and Pierce were the only ones still up at the altar, and Pierce turned to look back at him. They shared a look, one of grim satisfaction that Kratos was very familiar with from his days as a soldier a century ago. They were pleased that Dagen was dead, but there had been too much bloodshed and killing to fully say that they were happy.

"Let's go," Pierce said. "We need to make sure there aren't any more Desians hanging around the city."

"I need to find the Chosen," Kratos said. "I need to make sure she is safe."

"Of course." Pierce nodded and sheathed his sword. He looked up at the sky, where the sun was sinking behind the mountains. "Meet me at the watch house tonight after you find her. We can discuss our next steps then."

* * *

"That's all for tonight," Kratos said. "It's late."

"Aw, fine," Lloyd said. He would have protested more, but he was grateful that Kratos had at least gotten to the end of Dagen.

"You should go to bed," Kratos said. "And hopefully the rain will be gone by-"

"Do you hear that?" Colette asked, raising her head and looking around.

Kratos frowned. "…Yes. It sounds like-"

"A Rheaird!" Lloyd said, jumping to his feet.

Kratos rose to his feet shortly after, saying, "Why would there be a Rheaird in this region?"

Lloyd ignored him and ran out from under the overhang. He got hit in the face with a veritable bucket of water, but his eyes were lock on the two glowing lights of Rheairds in the sky. "Look, they are Rheairds!"

Colette stood next to him and stared up in awe. "I wonder who it could be?"

"Hey!" Lloyd shouted. The drivers of the Rheairds probably couldn't hear him, but he tried anyway. "Hey! You up there!"

To his surprise, the Rheairds slowed down and began turning around. "I think they saw us!" Lloyd said.

The three of them stood side by side in the rain, watching with anticipation was the Rheairds came closer. They came down between the peaks of the mountains before finally landing lightly on the path ahead of them. Kratos drew his sword as the two drivers climbed down and approached them.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," said a familiar voice. "Put that thing away, old man! Geeze!"

Lloyd stared in surprise. "Zelos?"

"Why are you standing in the rain, Bud?" he asked, walking right past Lloyd and under the overhang. "Man, it's freezing out here!"

"Stop complaining," said another familiar voice, and then Sheena came into view, hugging her arms to keep warm.

"What are you guys doing here?" Colette asked.

All five of them huddled under the overhang as Sheena explained. "I was heading to Meltokio and met Zelos in Altamira. Regal said he got a letter from you guys saying you were coming, but with the storm in the mountains he was worried about your safety so Zelos and I volunteered to come look for you."

"Good thing you saw us, though," Zelos said. "If you hadn't stepped out, we probably would have flown right over you."

Colette was unable to keep the smile off her face. "It's really good to see you guys again."

"You too, Colette," Sheena said with a warm grin.

"'Course, I'd be happier if we weren't soaking wet," Zelos grumbled, trying to wring water from his hair. It had been hard to keep them all dry when there were only three people. Now that the group had expanded to five, staying completely dry was next to impossible.

"We could take off now," Sheena said, looking out at the stormy sky. "Volt's power keeps the Rheairds from getting hit by lightning. But it's pretty miserable flying in the rain, so I think we should just wait until tomorrow morning."

Lloyd looked at the pair of Rheairds sitting on the path. "Can they carry all five of us?"

Sheena frowned. "It'll be tough, but I think we can squeeze three of us on one. For just the flight to Altamira I'm sure it will be fine."

"Hey, Dad," Lloyd said, looking back at him with a grin, "I think you should continue your story now so Zelos and Sheena get to hear it!"

Kratos maintained his deadpan stare while he said, "No. If they really want to hear it, they can hear it tomorrow."

Zelos gave Lloyd a confused look. "What story is this?"

Colette said, "Kratos is telling us about the time he joined the first Chosen of Mana on her journey."

"That sounds interesting," Sheena said. "But Kratos is right. I'm pretty tired; we can hear it tomorrow."


	14. A Doctor and A Thief

**Chapter Fourteen: A Doctor and a Thief**

There were an awful lot of bodies lined up on the altar. Survivors of the battle searched through the dead to find (or hopefully not find) their loved ones. Spirit had been lurking up near the altar for most of the morning, hoping to find some indication of where Rowan was.

So far no one had seen him. A lot of people were familiar with him from Dagen's display before the battle, but no one had seen him since the fighting began. Spirit took comfort in the fact that he couldn't be found amongst the dead, but there was always the chance that his body just hadn't been found yet.

She was hoping to find her father, too. She didn't know if he was here yet, but Ferris had left with a troop of soldiers to get the rest of the prisoners out of the ranch. He had to be found somewhere. Part of her was worried that even if she did see him, she wouldn't even recognize him since she had been so young when he disappeared. That's why she needed Rowan; to make sure she found Dad.

She heard footsteps coming toward her and looked up to see Kratos. Kratos had found her and Ferris on the back trail late last night shortly before the trail would have met back up with the main road in and out of Cleopolica.

"Here," he said when he reached her and handed over a thick slice of bread and an apple. "You need to eat something."

Spirit took the food gratefully. She hadn't even realized how hungry she was until her stomach growled in anticipation. "Thank you."

"Have you found anything yet?" Kratos asked.

She shook her head and stared forlornly up at the altar, where the dead were being gathered.

Kratos put his hand on her shoulder. "I promise we won't leave Cleopolica until you find your brother."

Spirit smiled at him. It didn't quite make up for him forcing her to leave the ranch without Rowan, but it was a nice thought.

"Captain Asgard has handed over management to the mayor," Kratos said. "The city will get back on its feet eventually. It will be a hard road to rebuild, but I'm sure they'll manage."

Spiritua nodded slowly. She was glad that Cleopolica would be all right.

"I'm going back to the watch house. Do you want to come or are you going to stay here?"

"I'm staying here." She was exhausted after getting only a few hours of sleep last night, but she couldn't leave. Bodies were still being brought in, and survivors who might be able to provide information on Rowan's whereabouts were still arriving.

"Good luck," Kratos said.

* * *

After breakfast, Lloyd stepped out into the rain. It wasn't raining nearly as hard as it had been last night, so in comparison this light sprinkle was hardly anything. "Everybody ready to go?"

Zelos yawned deeply, covering his mouth with his hand. "Chill out, Bud," he then said.  
"We're not in a rush."

Colette smiled. "We're just excited to see Regal and Presea!"

"Getting out of this rain would be nice, too," Lloyd said.

"Well, we're all ready to go," Sheena said, walking out from under the overhang and heading for her Rheaird. "Ok, the arrangements will be-"

Zelos cut in, "Kratos and Lloyd will be on one Rheaird, and I'll squeeze in between Sheena and Colette on the other." He had a smooth grin on his face as he added, "It might be a little tight, so we'll have to press close together."

Sheena didn't waste another moment before whacking the back of his head. While Zelos clutched his skull and grumbled, she said, "_Actually_, Kratos and Zelos will take one, and Lloyd and Colette will join me on mine. It is going to be a tight fit, so you guys have to promise to catch me if I fall off, ok?"

"Of course!" Colette said. Her face was very worried as she said, "Do you really think you might fall?"

Sheena climbed into her seat and said, "Nah, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Lloyd and Colette followed Sheena to the Rheaird and climbed on behind her. It was a tight fit, but for the short flight to Altamira it would probably be ok. Kratos and Zelos looked slightly more comfortable on their Rheaird, though from Zelos' longing looks it was obvious he would rather be on the one with Sheena.

They took off, leaving the mountain path behind them. The wind whipped through Lloyd's hair while the rain whipped him in the face. He was behind Sheena, though, so she was taking the brunt of it. It took about two hours to fly to Altamira. It was cold and wet during the flight, so Lloyd's spirits soared when he finally caught sight of the tall buildings of the resort town. They circled around to the ground and landed on the grass just outside the edge of the city.

"Well, here we are," Sheena said, pulling out the wing pack. "Are you guys going to stay in Altamira very long?"

Kratos started to say, "No," just as Lloyd simultaneously said, "Yup!"

Sheena raised an eyebrow as she looked between them, then said, "Ooookay. Regal's probably busy right now so we'll probably have to wait a bit before getting to see him."

With the Rheairds put away in the wing pack, the five of them headed into town. The city was pretty much the same as it had been the last time Lloyd had been here. Even while the rest of the world was undergoing radical changes after the combination of the worlds, this glory of tourism would never change.

"How long are you here, Zelos?" Colette asked.

"Oh, another week or so," he said with a shrug. "I was taking a bit of a vacation, and I'm not expected back in Meltokio for a week. I've been chilling at the hotel. Can you believe Regal wouldn't give me a room for free?"

Lloyd laughed. "Probably because he knows you're just as rich as he is!"

Zelos crossed his arms and pouted. "It's the thought that counts."

They reached the train and Lloyd practically jumped on board. "Oh, boy! I love this thing!"

Kratos stepped on with a bit less enthusiasm. While Lloyd leaned over the edge and peered at the tracks under water, Kratos said, "If you keep leaning forward, you will fall in."

"Be careful, Lloyd!" Colette said while the driver of the train gave them a confused look.

Sheena just laughed and said, "Take us to the Lezareno Company, please."

The train started to move, and Colette joined Lloyd in looking down at the water. She pointed excitedly at a fish as they passed, and waved goodbye to it as the train pulled into the lobby of the Lezareno Company.

While the other four milled around the lobby, Zelos strode up to the front desk and said, "Yo, we're here to see Regal."

The receptionist frowned without even looking up. "Do you have an appointment sir?"

"Appointment?" Zelos crossed his arms smugly. "Look, I'm Zelos Wilder, the Chosen of Mana. Do I _need_ an appointment?"

The receptionist did a double take and looked up. "Oh! Of course, sir. President Regal is in a meeting right now, but you can wait for him in his office."

"Thank you very much, my good sir," Zelos said, waving his hand to the others. "Come on, guys, we're in."

The rode the elevator up to Regal's office, which was empty. His desk was covered in neat stacks of paper and behind the chair was a huge window with a stunning view of the ocean. "Woooow," Lloyd said, running up to it and pressing his hands against the glass. "This is so cool!"

"It's so pretty!" Colette said.

Kratos, meanwhile, sat down on one of the uncomfortable looking sofas in the middle of the room. "We may have to wait a long time, so you might as well sit down, Lloyd."

"Oh, Kratos," Colette said, turning back from the window. "Can you tell your story now?"

Lloyd and Colette had filled Zelos and Sheena in on the basics of the story that morning before breakfast, so they were fairly interested in hearing the continuation.

Lloyd sat down in the big leather chair in front of Regal's desk and spun in a few circles. "Yeah, Dad, keep going."

"Very well. Let's see, where were we? Ah, yes, Spiritua was looking for Rowan. You may be happy to know that Rowan was not dead."

* * *

Rowan pried his eyes open with great effort, and as soon as they were open he considered closing them again and going back to blissful unconsciousness. Being asleep might not be particularly interesting, but its main advantage over the waking world was that now that he was awake, everything hurt in one constant throb of pain. He'd been running on pure adrenaline for so long that now that he was lying here in safety, his mind really had time to look back and think about all the crap he'd been through lately. From how much he hurt right now, he wondered if maybe his body was trying to compensate for ignoring it up until now.

Come to think of it, where _was_ he? The last thing he remembered was passing out in a burned down house with the sky up above, but his view straight up was currently one of brownish stone. Yellowish light flickered, probably from a lamp nearby. He tried to sit up to get a better look at his surrounding, but the sudden stab of pain through his back and his left arm made him think better and he fell back with a groan. Looking down, he realized his arm was wrapped in bandages and a sling.

"Good morning, sleepy head."

Rowan snapped his neck to the side to see a young woman walking towards him. From this angle he determined that he was in a cave, lying on a thin mattress on the ground with a threadbare sheet. The girl knelt by his side and smiled at him.

All other thoughts flew from his mind at that moment, because all Rowan's mind could concentrate on right now was the fact that this girl was unlike anyone he had ever seen before. Her skin was rich brown, a shade he had never seen before growing up in Luin. Her eyes were so dark they were almost black and her curly, dark brown hair was pulled back in an untidy ponytail that left a few strands still framing her face.

"How do you feel?" she asked.

Rowan grinned. "I think I'm having a crises of faith."

She wrinkled her brow. "Pardon?"

"You see, I've never been a believer in Martel before, but seeing you I now have undeniable proof that angels exist."

The girl stared at him for a couple seconds with a deadpan expression, and then she rolled her eyes. "Congratulations. You've gone from unconscious to cheesy pick-up lines in under five minutes. That must be some kind of record."

"Did it work?"

"No. Are you thirsty?"

Now that she mentioned it, the dryness in his throat was very uncomfortable. It also called attention to the fact that he was starving. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a decent meal. "Yes, please."

She got up and disappeared into some other part of the cave. When she returned with a ceramic cup of water, Rowan asked, "Who _are_ you, anyways?" He was about to reach for it with his left hand, and then the movement reminded him that his arm was busted. "And, uh, what exactly happened to me?"

"My name's Shea Selket," she said as he handed him the water. "I'm a doctor. As for what happened to you, how should I know? I found you half dead buried in debris. Your arm's crushed, your back is a nightmare – considering you came from the ranch I'm assuming you had a run-in with a whip – you've got some burns and more bumps and bruises than I can be bothered tallying. By all rights you should be dead by now, but luckily for you, you got me as a doctor."

Rowan took a sip of water and then placed it down on the floor. "And why is that lucky?"

"Because I'm the best."

Rowan looked around the room, careful to move nothing but his neck, and saw that it was mostly empty. There were a few empty mattresses, a desk covered in papers and bottles, and wooden cabinets lining the walls. "If you're the best, why am I the only patient and in a cave?"

"Because all my other patients have already been picked up by their families and taken home. But you aren't from around here."

"How do you know so much about me?" Rowan was already rather fond of Shea, but he couldn't help being slightly suspicious.

Shea just rolled her eyes. "Please. The whole town knows who you are after that display Dagen put on. And to be honest, I like you, Rowan. I like that you stood up to her. That's why I brought you in. I usually only treat people from this neighbourhood, who I can trust not to get me in trouble." She sat cross-legged next to him, leaning back on her hands.

"Ok, I'm getting confused," Rowan said. "Are you or are you not 'the best doctor in town'?"

Shea smiled at him. "Oh, I'm the best alright. However, I just haven't been _officially_ recognized as a doctor since I trained from a private individual rather than a professional. So you could say that I am not legally a doctor. But that doesn't matter, because I only serve those that can't find help anywhere else. Beyond this cave is the poorest area of town, mostly made up of half-elves and desperately poor humans. They can't find medical treatment anywhere else, so I help them and charge only what I know they can afford, which in most cases is nothing."

"If no one pays you," Rowan said, "how do you afford to buy all this medical stuff?"

Shea gave him a coy smile. "That's not important. What you should care about is the fact that you got me as a doctor, which means you'll probably be able to use that arm again."

Rowan tried to move his arm and Shea snapped, "But _not_ right now, stupid. You have to let it heal first."

"Alright, alright," he grumbled. This was followed by his stomach grumbling in response, so he said, "Hey, can I have some breakfast? Er… lunch? Dinner? What time is it anyway?"

"It's around noon," Shea said, getting to her feet. "But it doesn't matter because I'd be giving you soup any time of day."

As Shea walked away toward what was presumably the kitchen area of the cave, Rowan called, "Can I not have soup? I'd really prefer something more solid."

"Too bad," Shea called back. "I'll give you some bread, but honestly I'm almost out of food. It's been a rough few days what with the battle. You would not believe the number of patients I've had."

Rowan nodded a bit in understanding, but then her words suddenly caught up to him. "Wait, a couple of days? How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days," Shea said, accompanied by the clang of a pot as she put it on the stove.

Rowan did a double take. "Two days? I can't have been here that long!" He threw the blanket off of him and used his good arm to push himself into a sitting position. He ignored the aching protests of his body. Healing was all well and good, but it had been two days so he really needed to get up and get moving. Spirit and the others must be worried sick about him.

Just when he put his good hand on the cave wall to help get to his feet, Shea had stormed over and grabbed a handful of his hair in a tight fist. "Lie down right now, mister."

"Hey, let go!" he tried to swat her hand away, but moving his hand away from the wall made him lose his balance. In a split second Shea moved her hands and caught him, slowly lowering him back into bed.

"Until you can stand up without help, you're not leaving this cave unless someone comes and gets you."

Rowan was not a fan of the way Shea could loom over him so easily when he was stuck lying on the ground. "You can't keep me here without my consent."

Shea crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Try me."

"I've got friends with the city militia you know. I'll have you arrested for kidnapping!"

"That's nice." She turned and walked back to the kitchen.

Rowan wanted to be mad at her, but he couldn't deny the fact that she had saved his life. It was then that he looked down at himself and realized he was no longer wearing his filthy ranch clothes, and was now dressed in plain beige pyjamas. Shea must have changed him, which bothered him. After all, if he was going to get undressed by a beautiful woman, he would have liked to be awake for it.

Rowan raised his head and looked over at her. "Can you at least go and find my sister and let her know where I am? She's probably with Captain Asgard or Lieutenant Ferris of the city's militia."

Shea was silent for a second, and the only thing Rowan heard was the metallic scraping of a fork on the bottom of the pot. "I'm sorry," she said, "But what I'm doing here isn't entirely legal. The only way I've stayed out of jail this long is by staying as far away from the militia as possible. I wouldn't be able to find your sister without getting too close to soldiers to risk it."

Rowan's head fell back against the pillow in frustration. "So what am I supposed to do? Just lie here and wait until you let me go?"

"That's usually how kidnappings go, isn't it? But don't worry. You're healing very fast, so I'll probably let you go sometime tomorrow or the next day." She walked back across the room with a bowl of soup on a tray, along with a piece of bread and a glass of milk. She set this on his lap and grabbed a pillow to prop him up.

Despite his aggravation, he had to admit that Shea was a good cook. After eating nothing but the pathetic excuse for food provided at the ranch for a few days, he gobbled down the warm soup and fresh bread like it was going to disappear if he didn't get to it fast enough. While Rowan ate, Shea busied herself with cleaning up her desk. She had an awful lot of gels, and Rowan had to wonder how she afforded them all if she was on such a budget. She even had gels Rowan had never seen before, like one that was bright yellow or orange.

When Rowan was finished eating, he set the empty bowl down beside him with a small _clink_. "That was really good. Thanks."

She looked over and smiled. "No problem."

"Don't get me wrong – I'm still mad at you for kidnapping me."

"Of course." She picked up his bowl and took it back to the kitchen.

Rowan watched her as she carefully rinsed and washed the bowl with deft hands. He still couldn't stop staring at her skin. Until today he hadn't even been aware that people _could_ have dark skin like that. Certainly no one in the Cleopolica region looked like that. Was she from somewhere far away or was it just a weird mutation she had? "Hey, uh… Shea? Can I ask you something?"

"I can't guarantee I'll answer, but I can't really stop you from asking." The bowl was put away in a cupboard and she turned back to face him with her arms crossed. "What is it?"

"Er… are you from here? I mean, you don't look…" Maybe she was touchy about how she looked? He didn't want to offend her.

Shea obviously saw the discomfort on his face so she smiled and laughed a bit. "Don't worry about it. I get this question all the time."

"Oh. So…?"

"I'm from Triet."

Rowan nodded. He had seen Triet on a map before, and recalled that it was practically on the other side of the world. "That's… a long trip to get here."

Shea laughed again. "Yeah, I guess you could say that." She crossed to her desk and sat down in her chair. She sat in it sideways, leaning against the back of it. "I've travelled around a lot, though. When I was still training with my master, we used to cross between Cleopolica and the Palm Coast all the time. I've just settled here as of a few years ago."

"Wow." Rowan was starting to feel very sheltered when he looked back at his life and realized that right now he was farther away from home than he had ever been before. He liked to think of himself as grown up, but Shea seemed to have a couple years on him that, coupled with her experiences, made him feel like a useless kid.

Shea looked down at her desk and picked up a sheet of paper. "Will you be alright if I go out for a little bit? I need to do some shopping."

"Yeah, go ahead." He didn't want her to think he needed to be babysat.

"Alright." She got up and folded her paper, slipping it in her pocket. "I'll be back in a couple hours. You stay right where you are, you hear? I don't want you trying to wander around because if you fall you are going to hurt yourself."

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled.

"Bye." She crossed the room and headed out the door.

* * *

The door opened and Regal walked in. Kratos broke off his story as everyone's heads turned to look at him. Lloyd, who had been resting his chin on his crossed arms on Regal's desk, popped his head up and couldn't keep a grin off of his face as he said, "Hi, Regal!"

"Good day, Lloyd," Regal said. "It's nice to see you again."

"Hey, thanks for sending Zelos and Sheena after us," Lloyd said. "Otherwise it would have taken ages to get through the mountains."

"It was my pleasure."

"Your pleasure?" Zelos grumbled. "You're not the one that had to fly through the rain."

Zelos was ignored and Regal sat down on the couch next to Kratos. He would have sat at his desk, but Lloyd was still commandeering his spinning chair. Regal asked, "How long do you plan to stay in Altamira?"

Kratos started to say, "Not long-" before Lloyd butted it.

"As long as we can!"

Kratos sighed and gave Lloyd an annoyed look. "Lloyd, we do have to get to the Tower in a timely fashion."

Lloyd spun around in the chair, letting the air whip his hair around. "Aw, come on, Dad, we've been travelling for days now. Can't we stop here and rest? Please?"

Kratos sighed. "No more than three days."

Lloyd slammed his feet to the ground and brought the spinning chair to a stop while punching his fist in the air. "Yes!"

"In the meantime," Regal said, "I'll get you set up with rooms at the hotel and we can all get together for dinner tonight."

Colette smiled. "Thank you so much, Regal!"

"It's my pleasure, Colette."

* * *

There was still no sign of Rowan. The town was still being cleaned up and bodies were still being found, but every day it got decreasingly likely to find people alive in the rubble. Spiritua didn't want to believe that Rowan could be dead, but it was beginning to feel hopeless. She walked down the streets, not quite sure what to do with herself. Kratos had not suggested they leave yet, but she could tell he wanted to. After dragging her away from the ranch he seemed willing to let her decide when it was time to move on from Cleopolica. She appreciated the sentiment, but at the same time a part of her wished he would be the one to declare it a lost cause, so that she wouldn't have to live with the decision of giving up on Rowan for the rest of her life.

It was very lonely in the busy streets. Everyone walked right past her, engrossed in their own lives. Rowan had done so much for these people; why wasn't everyone as worried about him as Spirit was? She sighed and stopped to lean against the wall of a building, letting the rush of midday shoppers sweep past her.

She looked down at her hands and fiddled with the ring on her finger. It reminded her of her mom, and how much she wanted to go home right now and see her mom and get another hug from her. And that made her think of her father, who was still not accounted for. Nobody from the ranch had been able to give her any information when she asked them either.

"Hey there, what's wrong?"

Spirit looked up at saw a young woman stop in front of her, holding a bag of groceries in one hand. Spirit blushed and looked down. "Nothing," she said softly.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't look like a 'nothing' kind of expression to me." She looked down at her groceries and pulled out a shiny red apple. "My name's Sharon, by the way. What's yours?"

"Uh… Spiritua."

Sharon smiled. "Here, Spiritua, take this."

Spirit starred at the apple in the woman's outstretched hand, and then raised her eyes curiously.

"When you take a bite out of an apple, it forces your mouth into a big grin. Maybe when you're done eating it, the smile will stay on your face?" Sharon chuckled a bit. "And if that doesn't work, well, an apple a day keeps the doctor away! Go on, take it."

Spiritua tentatively reached out and took the apple. With her hand still outstretched, Sharon reached her other hand out and rested it warmly overtop of it. "I know everyone's been kind of down in this city lately, but it will get better. You'll see. It always does. I mean, hey, I've heard some rumours that the Chosen of Mana has finally appeared! Well, if you believe in Martelism I guess."

Spirit wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so she just stared at the woman in confusion for a second before Sharon pulled away. "Goodbye, Spiritua," she said, slipping her hand into her pocket. "It was very nice to meet you."

Spirit nodded dumbly as the woman slipped away into the crowd. She waited a few seconds, and then brought the apple up to her mouth. Sure enough, as soon as she opened her mouth to take the first big bite, she found herself smiling.

But then she stopped smiling when she looked at her. More accurately, she looked at what was _not_ on her hand.

The apple dropped to the ground as Spirit took off into the crowd, desperate to find the woman that had stolen her ring. Unfortunately, the woman had already blended back into the crowd, and Spiritua wasn't nearly tall enough to see over the heads of all the people on the main road. But… she _did_ have wings. She looked up at the roof of a building nearby. She could see down at the crowds easily from up there, but it would be really scary. She shook her head, determined not to let her silly little fear get in the way of recovering her grandmother's ring. She'd already lost her brother; she wasn't going to lose her family heirloom too.

From the edge of the crowd, she pulled out her wings and flew straight to the roof. Around her, people stopped to gawk and point but she didn't care. She was paying much more attention to the woman who took one glance back and then kept going, snaking through the crowds with skill. She was heading toward the mountains, so Spirit took off, flying over the main street to the next building.

The woman turned off the main street and down a side alley that Spirit probably wouldn't have even noticed from the ground. She was glad that the fire had mostly missed this part of town, because it meant she still had roofs to hop along. She tried to keep from looking at the ground as she roof-hopped after the woman, but as she went she found that the terror of being up above the ground wasn't actually as bad as she had thought it would be. Every time her stomach lurched at the sight of the cobbled streets down below, she reminded herself that she could fly and easily catch herself.

In fact, as she went she became less worried about falling and more concerned about the fact that she seemed to be entering a sketchy part of town. The streets turned from cobbles to dirt to mud, and she took to hiding behind chimneys in case the rough-looking boys on the street looked up and saw her. The less crowded streets did make it easier to follow the girl though.

The young woman obviously didn't realize she was being followed, because she stopped running and slinking through the streets. She obviously felt at home here. Seeing the level of poverty in this region of town, Spirit could understand why the woman had stolen her ring. That didn't make it ok, though.

The woman turned down another side alley that Spirit thought would hit a dead-end since the side of the cliff was right there. When she actually peeked over the edge of the roof, however, she saw that at the bottom of the cliff there was a small wooden door that had just slammed shut.

Spirit paused, considering her next course of action. She could barge in there right now and demand her ring back, but there could very well be a den of heavily-armed thieves in there who could easily kill her. It would be much smarter to go back to the watch house and find Kratos and Captain Asgard and bring them along. Her plan settled, she pulled out her wings one more time and took off. Flying was kind of scary, but she had to admit it was convenient.

She reached the watch house and ran inside. Pierce sat at his desk with his head in his arms, while Kratos and Ferris sat in a corner talking. Noishe sat on the desk behind Kratos, pecking away at a bowl of birdseed. The little bird had gotten out of the way during the fighting, but as soon as things had settled down he'd somehow been able to find Kratos right away. Kratos looked up as soon as Spiritua entered and immediately saw the upset on her face.

"Has something happened?" he asked.

She nodded and stopped in front of them. "My ring has been stolen."

Kratos frowned while Ferris sat up and said, "Alright, we can help you with that. Can you describe the thief?" He turned around in his chair to the desk behind him and grabbed a pencil and a paper.

Spirit nodded. "Yes. She was a young woman, with dark skin and curly black hair."

Across the room, Pierce bolted upright, all traces of sleep gone in an instant. "Did you say a dark-skinned, female thief robbed you?"

She nodded slowly. Pierce swore. He said, "I'll get that girl soon, you'll see."

"I followed her back to her hideout," Spirit said.

Pierce's eyes lit up. "You found her hide-out? Brilliant! She's always managed to slip away from us whenever we try chasing her. Can you lead us there?"

She nodded once. Pierce, Ferris, and Kratos followed her outside.

* * *

"I would like to take this moment to point out," Kratos said as he glared pointedly at Lloyd, "that one of the things I appreciated most about Spiritua was the fact that when faced with a potentially dangerous situation, she went to get help rather than blazing in like an idiot."

Lloyd had a sheepish grin on his face as he fiddled his thumbs. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, Dad."

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading and happy early Easter! Also, I drew a picture of Shea, just in case you're interested: tinyurl. com/ 63okxh4 (remove the spaces)


	15. Travel Arrangements

**Chapter Fifteen: Travel Arrangements**

"Stay back, Chosen," Kratos said in a low voice as Pierce prepared to barge through the door. The three men had their swords drawn and from the look of pure excitement on Pierce's face, he'd been looking forward to this day for a very long time. Ferris had explained on the way over that this girl was a persistent thief who had been eluding the militia for a couple of years now.

Pierce through the door open and stormed in, with Ferris and Kratos close behind, Spirit hung back just outside and heard Pierce shout, "Nobody move!"

Spirit would have stayed back like she had been told to. She would have stayed out of the way and let Pierce do his job. But then she heard a terribly familiar voice cry, "What the hell is this?" and she couldn't keep herself out.

She burst through the door and even though it took a second for her eyes to adjust to the dimmer light of the cave, there was no mistaking the form of Rowan lying on a makeshift bed in the corner. She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw him, and couldn't keep the smile off of her face when she ran across the room and knelt by his side. "You're alive."

"Well spotted," Rowan said, returning the smile. "Now, can you please explain why Ferris and Pierce are arresting my doctor?"

Spirit looked over her shoulder and saw Pierce handcuffing the girl's hands behind her back.

"I bet you thought you could evade me forever, didn't you?" Pierce said. The smile on his face showed that he was almost as happy to have found this girl as Spirit was to have found Rowan. "Thought you could rob Cleopolica blind and never have to pay the consequences?"

To Rowan, Spirit said, "She's a thief. She stole my ring."

Rowan's confusion turned to anger. He looked past Spirit and towards the girl. "You robbed my sister? How dare you!"

Sharon rolled her eyes at Rowan. "I _did_ explain that I don't charge most of my patients. How do you think I afforded the materials I used to _save your life_?"

This appeared to shut Rowan up for the time being, and for that fact alone Spirit had to give Sharon a bit of respect.

Pierce said, "We can discuss your morals – or lack thereof – back at the watch house." He looked over at Ferris and Kratos and said, "Can you two carry Rowan? I'll send some others later on to search this place for any stolen materials."

"You don't need to carry me," Rowan grumbled. "Just let me lean on you and I can walk just fine."

As Pierce shepherded Sharon out the door, she looked back and snapped, "If you trip and re-break that arm, I swear to Origin I am not going to be the one to reset it for you."

Kratos leaned over and helped Rowan to his feet. He was a bit shaky and his face strained to conceal pain, but he could walk. Once they left the cave and began following Pierce down the streets, Spirit noticed the way the other residents of the neighbourhood peeked out windows and glared at them as they passed, anger and sadness on their faces. Sharon must be a much-loved member of the community.

"What happened?" Ferris asked, walking next to Rowan and ready to catch him should he fall. Kratos was on his other side, letting Rowan use his arm as a crutch.

"I got in a fight with Vale," Rowan said. "I beat him pretty easily, but the force of my attack was strong enough to make a house collapse on me. Shea found me and fixed me up."

While Ferris gave him a bemused look, Spirit said, "Shea? She told me her name was Sharon."

"Well, she told _me_ her name was Shea."

Kratos said, "It is possible they are both pseudonyms. It isn't wise for criminals to give out their true names."

Rowan frowned. "I know she's a thief… but she did save my life."

"A single good deed does not nullify a criminal lifestyle," Kratos said.

"Whatever the case," Ferris said, "even if you wanted to, no amount of convincing would get Captain Asgard to let her go. This thief has been eluding him for a couple of years now, and he's been very determined to catch her."

* * *

The door to the office opened and George poked his head in. "Excuse the interruption, sir, but I got a call from the hotel stating that your rooms are ready."

"Excellent," Regal said. "Thank you, George."

Lloyd perked his head up. He was about to comment, when he was distracted by a loud rumbling from his stomach. He looked down for a second and then changed his comment to, "When's lunch?"

Sheena laughed and shook her head. "Oh, Lloyd, I've missed you."

Lloyd frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Kratos stood up. "We'll settle into our rooms and then meet in the hotel restaurant for lunch in half an hour."

Regal nodded. "I'll join you, though I might have to be a bit late as I am in a meeting until twelve. However, I will send word to Presea and I am certain she would love to join you."

"Excellent, let's go to our rooms," Zelos said, hopping to his feet. "Yo, Regal, are you paying for my room now?"

"No."

Zelos' face sank, and Regal left the room. Lloyd got to his feet as well, though he was very sad to leave Regal's chair behind. It was very comfortable, and he made a mental note of asking Regal to send him one for his bedroom. He could set it up on the balcony and spin in circles all night.

After taking the train back to the district with the hotel, the group headed up to the beautiful Altamira hotel. Lloyd hated looking like a country bumpkin inside, but the lavish fountains and high ceilings never failed to draw his eyes, leaving him staring upwards with his mouth open. While Lloyd and Colette stood by the pool of water in the lobby and stared at the ceiling, Kratos checked them into their rooms. A bellhop appeared to carry their bags, and Lloyd wondered if perhaps they could stay here for quite a while. As much as he loved his home, he could stand a week or so living in this lap of luxury.

As they rode the elevator up, Lloyd suddenly said, "Oh! Hey, Dad, I'm a bit confused. Is that girl's name Shea or Sharon or what?"

"It was Shea," Kratos said. "At least that's what she went by throughout all the time I knew her."

"You know," Colette said, putting her fingers to her chin, "her name sounds kind of familiar. I feel like I've heard it before."

"Really?" Lloyd blinked and raked his memory.

"Yes, I think it's something Professor Raine mentioned once."

Oh, well in that case Lloyd just gave up because there was no way he would remember a person Raine mentioned in school. He just shrugged. "Could be. This was the first Journey of Regeneration, right? Maybe they people involved were kind of famous afterwards, like we are."

"Lloyd," Zelos said, "we're famous for _not_ completing the Journey of Regeneration. Well… _you guys_ are famous for that. I was already famous thanks to my rugged masculinity."

Sheena snorted and rolled her eyes. "If long flowing hair and a pretty face is ruggedly masculine, I obviously haven't seen enough men lately."

Zelos leaned close to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "I can fix that if you like."

Sheena's expression never changed, but she solidly socked him in the gut, causing Zelos to double over clutching his stomach. The elevator stopped and the door dinged, while the bellhop carrying their bags stared at the group in confused fear. Sheena strode out of the elevator without a second look back.

Lloyd looked down at Zelos as Kratos and Colette left the elevator. "Are you ok, Zelos?"

"Heh…" he gasped. "Yeah… I think I'm making progress with her."

Lloyd frowned. "I'd hate to see regression."

The room they had been set up in was just as grand as the one they'd had the last time they stayed at this hotel. Lloyd wasted no time before running headlong towards the bed.

"If you jump up and down on that bed, you're sleeping on the balcony."

Lloyd froze mid-leap, and wobbled on one foot as he slowly craned his neck around to see Kratos calmly unpacking on the other side of the room. Was he joking? Lloyd could never tell. It would be better not to risk it.

There was a knock at the door, and Lloyd spun around and dashed back to the door in order to withhold the temptation to jump on the bed. Sheena and Colette stood there smiling, and Sheena said, "We're meeting Presea at the restaurant. Let's go."

It was a short elevator ride back down to the lobby, and when they reached the restaurant they found that Presea hadn't arrived yet. The waiter showed them to the table Regal had reserved and the group spread out. When they were all seated, Lloyd turned to Kratos and said, "Ok, Dad, where were you in the story?"

"Hm, well, Pierce had just arrested Shea. After that, we rested in Cleopolica for a few days before heading out again, both because Rowan was recuperating and because we were trying to decide what to do about the Hakonesia Mountains. In those days, there wasn't a well-worn road and an establishment at the peak, so crossing the mountains was treacherous and potentially very dangerous without a guide to show you the way."

Lloyd thought back to the miserable night in the mountains, and muttered, "I can believe that."

* * *

They were staying with Pierce until it was time to move on. He had a small house on the edge of town with enough space for Kratos, Spirit, and Rowan to camp out in the living room. Rowan tried to let Spirit have the couch, but she insisted that he sleep on it as long as he was healing. By the second day, Rowan was tired of just lying around. He'd been checked out by another doctor (Kratos and Pierce hadn't trusted Shea, though they were notably quiet after the doctor brought in declared Shea's work some of the best he'd ever seen). The burn on his leg was fading and he could sit up without all of his muscles aching, so as far as Rowan was concerned, he was fit to go, except for his arm. That was in pretty bad shape, though, so they didn't intend to wait for it to fully heal.

He sat up on the couch, leaning against the pillows and feeling bored. Spirit had gone downtown with Kratos to shop for supplies, so there was no one to talk to and nothing to do. Then he heard the front door open and his heart leapt. He spirits got even higher when he saw Pierce walk into the living room with a familiar jacket in his arms.

"Found this when we went through the ranch," Pierce said, tossing it to him. The jacket landed on his lap and Rowan grinned, clutching the worn fabric with one hand.

"How did you know it was mine?"

"It smells like fish."

Rowan scowled, and Pierce laughed.

"Your sister spotted it at the watch house. It _does_ smell, though. We found your weapons as well."

"Excellent." He'd been worried about that. He didn't exactly fight with the most common weapon, so finding a replacement in Cleopolica might have been difficult.

Pierce frowned and sat down in a chair across from him. "But there is something we haven't found."

Rowan wrinkled his brow, not sure what Pierce was getting at. He couldn't think of anything else he was missing.

"I'm sure Spiritua has mentioned to you that she's been trying to find your father amongst the survivors."

Rowan's heart clenched. He had been trying to avoid the topic of Dad whenever possible, but he should have known someone would drag it up eventually.

"I've tried explaining to Spiritua that it's beginning to look hopeless, but she won't listen. Perhaps you should talk to her?" He quickly added, "I'm not saying for certain whether your father is dead or not, of course. I just think-"

"Don't worry about it," Rowan said, looking down at his coat rather than meeting Pierce's eyes. "My dad's dead."

"You can't know that for sure," Pierce said. "There is still the slight chance of finding him. You mustn't give up hope."

Rowan shook his head. "No, you don't understand. He's been dead for over ten years."

He finally raised his eyes to see Pierce's face, which was now riddled with confusion. "You're right… I _don't_ understand. Your sister told me he has been in the ranch ."

"He never made it to the ranch," Rowan said. "He was killed helping me escape from the Desians. I… couldn't bring myself to tell Spirit or my mom. I think my mom figured it out, though." It felt weird saying that out loud after all these years. The truth about what had happened to his dad had been his most closely held secret since he was a little kid, but it felt good to finally tell someone.

Pierce was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I understand. What are you going to tell Spiritua?"

"I'll think of something. Don't tell her what I just told you."

"You shouldn't keep a lie like this from her," Pierce said.

"I just don't want her to be sad. She's got enough to deal with."

"You can't protect her forever, you know." Pierce stood up. "But I will respect your wish. I won't tell her, but I think you should."

* * *

Lloyd heard footsteps approaching from behind and he twisted around in his seat. A short, pink-haired girl approached the table, and Lloyd grinned. "Hi, Presea!"

"Hello, Lloyd." Presea took the empty seat next to Colette. "Thank you for inviting me to lunch."

"It's our pleasure!" Colette said, looking at her with a happy grin. "It's so nice to see everyone again!" Her grin turned to a small frown when she added, "I wish Professor Raine and Genis could be here too."

"They're busy in Palmacosta," Sheena said. "Last time I heard from Raine, she was trying to get the Palmacosta Academy to accept half-elf students."

"It makes no sense why they shouldn't," Lloyd said. "They offered Genis a spot when they thought he was an elf, so why would they not allow half-elves now?"

"That is entirely true, Lloyd," Kratos said. "But deeply ingrained racism does not always give way to logic."

Lloyd crossed his arms and stared down at his plate. After what they'd gone through with Mithos, Lloyd was already well aware of this fact.

"Keep going with the story, Kratos," Zelos said.

Presea gave Zelos a confused look. "What story is this?"

Lloyd jumped in to explain. "Dad is telling us about the first Chosen, Spiritua. They're in Asgard right now, but it isn't Asgard yet. Well, there is an Asgard, but he's a guy and not a city."

This explanation did very little to assuage Presea's confusion. Sheena rolled her eyes. "I'll explain later, ok? Just try to follow along for now."

* * *

"Alright," Rowan said, standing in the main room of the watch house. "I am up and ready to go. When can we leave?" His left arm was in a sling, but he was otherwise fully healed. They'd spent almost a week in Cleopolica now, and he was getting antsy to leave.

"We can't depart until we find a guide through the mountains," Kratos said. "I'd like to secure a guide before leaving Cleopolica, although I do intend on going to the next seal before crossing the mountains. I had originally intended to simply fly over the mountains, but I cannot carry someone that far now that we have you tagging along."

"…Oh." Rowan felt a small surge of guilt at the thought that he was the one holding them back. It was enough to think that they'd been waiting around for him to heal, but now they were being further delayed because of him. "Aren't there any guides in town?"

"There are guides," Pierce said, looking up from his desk, "but with the state the town is in, nobody is willing to leave. They all want to stay with their families and rebuild their homes. Not that I can blame them. To be perfectly honest, a large part of me wishes to join you and assist the Chosen, but I can't find a justification."

Rowan sighed and sat down at the table across from Spirit. She was busy feeding seeds to Noishe with a small smile on her face, looking for all the world like she wasn't listening to a word being said. "So," Rowan said, "we can't cross the mountains without a guide. So what we need is a person who has crossed the mountains multiple times in the past, and also has nothing holding them here."

"Correct," Kratos said. "I must warn you, Rowan, that if we go much longer without finding someone, I will have no choice but to leave you behind."

Spiritua froze, revealing that she had in fact been listening to every word. She turned her head to Kratos and gave him an angry look.

Kratos' face remained impassive. "I apologize, Chosen, but even you must admit we might not have a choice. We need to cross the mountains to continue your journey, and if we can't find someone to safely guide us through the mountains, we'll have to fly."

"Hold on," Rowan said. "This isn't going to be a problem because I know just the person."

"Really?" The other three all stared at him and Kratos said, "Where did you find the time to meet a mountain guide while recuperating on the couch for a week?"

Rowan grinned. "I met her _before_ the couch."

"Oh no," Pierce said, his eyes narrowing. "You are not talking about-"

"Shea told me she's crossed the mountains several times while travelling between here and the Palm Coast. And she's sitting in jail now, so she has no reason to want to stay in Cleopolica. _And_ she's a doctor, so if we get hurt, she can help us out! She's the perfect solution."

"Absolutely not," Pierce not. "I've spent too much of my life trying to put that thief in jail to let her go now. What would you do with her after crossing the mountains? Let her go free in the southern region? In fact, she'd probably make a run for it as soon as you leave Cleopolica!"

Kratos had an uncertain look on his face. "I may have to agree with Captain Asgard. The girl is a criminal; how can we know she can be trusted?"

"I know she's a thief," Rowan said, "but she's not a bad person. She only steals so that she can afford to give medical care to poor people!"

Pierce said, "But she still-"

"She saved my life. Besides, I don't see a whole lot of other options."

Kratos sighed. "Ultimately, I suppose we should let the Chosen decide. Spiritua, keeping in mind that we only met this girl because she deceived and robbed you, do you wish to recruit her as our guide?"

Spiritua was quiet as she stared at Kratos, and then at Pierce, and then turned her eyes to Rowan. Rowan gave her a fierce look, pleading with his eyes for her to agree with it. First because Rowan didn't want to get left behind if Kratos and Spirit had to fly, and second because if they needed a guide, he rather liked the idea of it being Shea. She might be a thief, but Rowan couldn't deny that he rather liked her. She was smart and pretty, and saving his life was a rather huge plus.

Spirit asked in a low voice, "Do you trust her?"

"Yes," Rowan said as firmly as he could.

Spiritua nodded slowly. "We'll go with Shea."

Pierce slapped his hand over his face with a groan while Kratos nodded solemnly.

"Very well," Kratos said. He looked to Pierce and said, "Captain Asgard, do you consent to the Chosen's wishes to release the prisoner?"

Pierce glared at his desk, looking like he very much wished to smash something. Sadly, the only things within reaching distance were pencil and paper, which did little to relieve stress when smashed. After a very long pause, he said, "Alright, I've made up my mind." He pushed his chair back and stood up. With a hard look that just dared any of them to protest, he said, "You've given me an excuse. You can take Shea with you, but I'm coming too. I'll make sure she doesn't run off and when the journey is over, I will escort her back to her cell in Cleopolica."

Kratos nodded. "That is a suitable arrangement."


	16. The Dwarf

**Chapter Sixteen: The Dwarf **

"I don't get a choice, do I?" Shea crossed her arms and leaned back against the brick wall of the jail cell. On the other side of the bars, Pierce, Kratos, Rowan and Spiritua stood in a group, having presented to her their offer of letting her guide them through the mountains.

"Of course you get a choice," Pierce said. "We aren't Desians. You're a prisoner, not a slave. You can choose to remain in jail, if you wish."

"Hmmmm…" Shea looked up at the ceiling with a bit of a smirk. "I can either join you on a dangerous journey and probably get myself killed, or sit around in peace and quiet with three meals provided to me every day."

"Please, Shea," Rowan said, stepping forward. "We need you."

Shea snapped her eyes to Rowan and she smiled, pushing off from the wall and striding forwards. "Are you kidding? Of course I'm in."

"It's settled then," Pierce said. "We'll depart from Cleopolica tomorrow morning."

"Before you go," Shea said to Rowan, "you _are_ going to get that Exsphere taken care of, right?"

"Ex-what?"

"The gem on your hand." She pointed to the blue gem embedded on Rowan's left hand. He had almost completely forgotten about it in all the activity that had gone on since the Desians put it on. "I've seen them before while travelling with my master. They'll slowly drain your energy and will eventually kill you if you don't get a special kind of crest put on it."

Rowan looked down at his hand with alarm. He had thought the rocks on all the prisoners were nothing but tracking devices or something. "Holy – how do I get one of those crest thingies?"

Shea shrugged. "I don't know how to make them. Only dwarves can. I don't know if there are any dwarves nearby."

"There is," Pierce said. "There's a dwarf who lives up on the mountainside on the edge of town."

"Really?" Rowan looked over at him. "I thought you were just making that up when you confronted the Desians."

"The explosives were a lie, but there really is a dwarf. We'll head up there today and request that a crest is made for you, as well as all the other victims of the ranch."

"Perfect," Shea said. "You guys take care of that, and I'll just chill in here, shall I?"

Pierce gave her an annoyed glare before turning and walking out of the room, closely followed by the others. Rowan looked back at Shea and gave her a little smile, but she ignored him.

Back in the main room, Pierce said, "We may as well head over right now."

"Aren't you going to bring Ferris?" Rowan asked. "He's got one of these gem things too."

Pierce nodded. "That's true, but there are a great many of affected people in town. We can't bring them all up individually, so we'll take Rowan up and request that she mass-produce enough for the rest of the prisoners once we leave."

* * *

Regal finally made it to lunch after about half an hour. This wasn't too late, however, since their food had still not been brought out.

"Did I miss anything?" Regal asked as he took his seat. "I apologize that my meeting took so long."

"Don't worry about it, Regal," Sheena said. "So what was your meeting about?"

"It wasn't that interesting. No water please." The waiter backed off with his pitcher and Regal elaborated, "Right now the Lezareno Company is working on getting the Sylvarant market. We've been working with Tethe'allan investors to convince them that Sylvarant is a viable market despite its lower economic status."

Lloyd lost track of that sentence about half way through. He'd only listened long enough to know for sure that it wasn't anything he was going to be interested in. The rest of the table seemed fascinated, though.

"How's that going so far?" Zelos asked, twirling his fork in his fingers.

"Right now we're concentrating on Palmacosta," Regal said. "It's the de facto capital of Sylvarant, so if we're going to infiltrate the market, that is where to start. It's been troublesome, though, because of the protesting in Palmacosta right now."

And with that Lloyd was suddenly interested again. "Protesting? What? Is Palmacosta ok? Will Genis and the Professor be alright?"

"Don't worry about it, Lloyd," Sheena said. "It hasn't gotten violent or anything. 'Protest' is a bit too strong of a word, I think."

Regal nodded. "Sheena is correct. Mostly, many Palmacostans don't like the idea of Tethe'alla getting involved in their nation at all and protest the idea of Tethe'allan businesses opening within their city. This is the sort of matter that will be resolved in business offices, not street demonstrations."

Lloyd's momentary panic about Genis and Raine calmed down. "Ok, that's a relief to know."

"So, Regal," Zelos said, and then launched into a question about Tethe'allan business that went so far over Lloyd's head it even bypassed his rather spiked hair. Lloyd stared at Zelos as he talked, and only stopped when a waiter suddenly materialized at his side to hand him a salad. Lloyd was too surprised to complain that he didn't even like salad, and then the waiter had disappeared again just as fast. Lloyd wondered if perhaps the restaurant employed Mizuho ninjas.

Regal was talking now, and as far as Lloyd was concerned it sounded like "jargon jargon profits thingabobber business jargon". He missed the simple days of their journey, when everyone was too caught up with conversations like "how are we going to stop Cruxis?" "where do you suppose the next seal is?" and "Lloyd, would you take that off your head this instant?" to get into the technicalities of their business lives.

"So, Dad," Lloyd said loudly, drawing Kratos' attention. "What was this dwarf like? I'm really excited to meet him, being raised by a dwarf and all."

"Her," Kratos corrected as everyone else at the table turned their attention to him. "The dwarf was a woman."

"Oh right," Lloyd smacked his forehead. "You said that."

"There are female dwarves?" Zelos said. He scrunched up his forehead and left his fork stabbed through a lettuce leaf. "Ok, trying to picture it… trying… trying… nope, I got nothing. Or, wait… arrrrgh!" His eyes squeezed shut and his mouth gaped open in horror. "Now all I can imagine is Altessa in a bikini."

"Zelos!" Sheena punched him in the arm with an angry glare.

"Owwww, Sheena, why would you do that? Aren't I already in enough mental anguish?"

Kratos evidently decided that he needed to start telling the story right away, before all hell broke loose around the table and they all forgot that they were in a fancy restaurant now and not screaming at each other over a campfire like they had been a couple of months ago.

"We approached Terra's front door," he said loudly. "It was up a steep, rocky slope and I probably would have missed it had Pierce not pointed it out."

* * *

When they reached the door, Rowan immediately walked up and knocked. He stood and waited expectantly, while Pierce, Kratos, and Spiritua came up behind him. The door was made of thick old wood, and the knock produced a hollow sound.

"She lives very far underground," Pierce said. "She won't have heard that knock."

Rowan scowled. "How do we get her to open the door then?"

"I believe ringing the doorbell might be advised," Kratos said. He gestured to a rope hanging out a hole in the cliff face, right next to something that looked like the speaker from a gramophone. Rowan had ignored it, not having a clue what it might be for. Kratos reached out and pulled the rope, and a few seconds later a deep vibration ran through the ground and from within the cliff Rowan could hear a gong. There was a long pause, and then a metallic voice came from the speaker.

"Who's there?"

"It's Captain Asgard," Pierce said, "and some companions of mine."

"Oh, hello! It's nice to see you again Captain. Please come in."

There was another long pause, and then they heard a series of clicks and the door swung open. It revealed a dark stone staircase that spiralled underground, illuminated by flaming torches set in the wall.

Rowan looked around the entrance. "How did she do that?"

"Terra is very good at building things," Pierce said. "I couldn't explain how any of her contraptions work."

While they were talking, Spiritua walked right past them and started walking down. Before following her, Kratos paused for a moment to look at the small bird on his shoulder.

"Are you going down, Noishe? I know you dislike being underground."

The little bird chirped and took off, flying over to a large rock a few feet away.

"Alright, you wait for me here. I'll be back shortly."

Kratos walked by, and Rowan gave his back a bemused look. He was the only guy Rowan had ever met that could have a meaningful conversation with a canary.

Rowan had to admit that the path into the mountain was a little creepy. His footsteps echoed on the stone walls and the stone steps were curved in the middle from untold decades of use. It seemed amazing to him that a person could tunnel into the rock like this by hand, but then dwarves weren't exactly people, were they? To be honest, he'd never given dwarves much thought before. He thought of them as being better than half-elves, because dwarves of course weren't Desians. But unlike half-elves, they didn't have any human at all in them, so why did they count as people more than half-elves?

He realized he was frowning, and that he was putting entirely too much thought into this. Dwarves didn't systematically murder humans, so they were better than half-elves and that's all there was to it.

After a couple minutes of walking, they came out in a large underground chamber. It was lit by a large brass chandelier hanging from the stone roof overhead, and illuminated a large room with a workshop and a sitting area. There were openings in the wall with a sheet of fabric rather than a door, which Rowan assumed would lead to other rooms. The cave itself amazed him; there was no way Terra had tunnelled this out all by herself. Jutting up from the floor around the edges were stalagmites with matching stalactites up above, and in a few places they joined together to create great stone pillars spread throughout the room.

"Good afternoon," came a gruff voice, and Rowan looked up to a dwarf walking across the room toward him. He was confused at first, because he knew that Terra was a woman but this dwarf had a full grey beard so must be male. As the dwarf got closer and he got a better look at the face, he was startled to realize that this _was_ a woman.

"What can I do for you, Captain?" Terra asked, crossing her arms and looking up at Rowan. Rowan took a second to thank Origin he hadn't been born a dwarf, because spending his entire life looking up at people's nostrils would drive him insane. On top of that, he really didn't think he had the facial structure to pull off a beard, which was apparently a requirement if even women had them.

"This young man has a problematic gem on his hand." Pierce gestured to Rowan, who raised his arm in the sling slightly to show off the blue gem. "We were told we need a special crest of some kind. On top of that, every rescued prisoner from the ranch also needs a similar crest. Is it possible for you to make enough such crests for the town? We can pay you with tax dollars, I'm sure."

Terra stomped across the cave to Rowan and took his wrist in her calloused hand. Her grip was rough and sent a small shock of pain through his forearm, but he bit his lip and suppressed a wince. It was frustrating enough to know that he wouldn't be able to fight properly for a couple weeks at least without Kratos and Pierce seeing his weakness.

Terra inspected his hand, leaning in close and closing one eye to get a good look at the gem. Her beard scratched his fingertips and looking at her fingers revealed that her nails were cut short with a layer of grime under them. She was certainly unlike any woman Rowan had ever met in Luin.

"Aye, I can make a Key Crest," she said, letting his hand drop. "I have enough inhibitor ore lying around to make one, but I'll have to go to the city to get enough to do the others."

"What city?" Rowan asked, rubbing his wrist.

"Agartha," Terra grunted as she walked over to her work table. "It's a couple days' trek, but I can make yours before I go, if ya want."

Spirit piped up to ask, "Where is Agartha?"

Without even looking up, Terra said, "It's the-"

* * *

"-ancient city of the dwarves!"

Everyone paused to look over at Lloyd, who had dropped his fork with a loud _clang_ due to excitement.

"Eh-heh, sorry. Dad's told me all about Agartha when I was little." He turned his excited eyes on Kratos and said, "Dad, did you ever get to go to Agartha? Did you see what it was like?"

Kratos shook his head. "No, I have not been there."

"Oh." Lloyd's face fell. "Well, they probably wouldn't let a non-dwarf in there anyways."

"What exactly is Agartha?" Sheena asked.

"It's the great city of the dwarves," Lloyd said. "See, a long time ago, dwarves lived up on the surface with humans and elves. But during the Ancient War, most of them decided that they had had enough with fighting on the surface so they disappeared underground. Some of them remained on the surface, like Altessa or my dad, and others lived alone below ground near the surface. But the majority of them travelled to the great underground city that only dwarves know how to find, and they've been there ever since. And that's why you don't see hardly any dwarves anymore – they're all hiding underground. Dad's never been there, but _his_ Dad said that his great-granddad went to Agartha once. It's supposed to be incredible!"

"How great can it be?" Zelos said, leaning back in his chair. "You'd hit your head on every doorway and if all the women look like this Terra chick, I'd stay the hell away from there!"

Lloyd crossed his arms and glowered at Zelos. Meanwhile, Kratos kept talking.

"How long will it take to make one crest?" Pierce asked.

* * *

"Oh, all afternoon, to be sure," Terra said, waving her hand. "I should be finished by tonight, though. It'll go faster if the boy sticks around so I don't have to guess and try to make a one-size-fits-all crest for him."

Kratos nodded. "Alright. Rowan, you stay here until the crest is complete. The rest of us will return to town and prepare for our departure." He turned to Terra and said, "Do you need money in advance, ma'am?"

Terra waved her hand. "Ach, don't bother. I'll throw this first one in for free when you pay me for all the others, plus the travel expenses to go all the way to Agartha."

Pierce smiled at her. "Always the keen businesswoman, Terra. Well, Kratos, shall we go? Chosen, why don't you stay here with your brother? I'm sure the two of you have a lot to talk about."

He caught Rowan's eye at that last part and Rowan felt his stomach squirm. Pierce knew he still hadn't talked to Spirit about their father. He kept putting it off because he still didn't know what to tell her and he didn't know if he could bring himself to break her heart. Spirit just nodded and took a step closer to Rowan while the two men headed back to the stairs.

Kratos looked back and said, "Meet us at the watch house when you're done here."

Rowan nodded, and then they were left alone. Terra waved her hand to the sitting area in the corner of the large cavern. "Take a seat; you'll be here for a while."

Rowan joined Spiritua on the wooden bench by a hearth. There wasn't a fire right now, but the stone around the edges was blackened with soot. Rowan considered sticking his head in there to see just how long the chimney was, but he'd probably just end up with soot in his eyes.

"You're going to be ok, right?"

Spirit's voice was soft, but carried a hard edge of concern. She was staring at the gem on his hand with a look of contempt.

Rowan smiled at her. "Of course I am. Shea said all I need is a crest thing-a-bobber and I'm getting one made right now. Don't you worry about me." He and Spiritua hadn't had a time to really talk in privacy since the ranch. This was partly because there were always other people in the room, and partly because Rowan was avoiding her because he was dreading the conversation they needed to have about their dad.

Behind them, they heard a loud clang as Terra got to work on the crest.

Spiritua leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder. "I missed you."

"I know. I'm sorry, Spirit. I promise not to abandon you ever again. We're gonna stick together from now on, alright?"

"M-hm." She was quiet for a couple seconds, and then she said, "Rowan? I'm sorry I couldn't find anything about Dad. I really did try."

Rowan's hand clenched and he hesitated to find the words. "Uh – it – it's ok, Spirit. You did what you could." Should he try to explain that Dad had been dead for ten years? He didn't know if he could handle seeing the look of hurt on her face when she found out he'd been lying to her all this time. What if she never trusted him again?

"Spirit, look, I – I need to talk to you about Dad." She raised her head slightly to look up at him. Rowan met her eyes, picturing them turning to anger when he told her the truth. He steeled himself. "In the ranch, I met someone who knew him. He said… he said that Dad died about a year ago."

Pierce would not be happy when he found out that this was the story he was giving Spirit, but Pierce wasn't her brother so Pierce could go screw himself. Rowan reached over and took her hand.

"He said that Dad was very brave and strong and that they all missed him terribly. And that whenever they asked him where he found the strength to stand up to the Desians, he said it was thinking about his children back home. He said that it was his greatest regret that he didn't get to see his daughter grow up, but that he always knew that she would be strong and brave and make him proud."

Spirit lowered her head. She squeezed Rowan's hand. When she spoke, her voice was calm and cool. "I see."

'I see' was one of Rowan's least favourite phrases, because it could mean just about anything. But he didn't push the issue. Instead, he tried to change the subject. "So, uh, has Kratos said anything about what the next seal is?"

"The wind seal," she said. "It's located in the Balacruf Mausoleum."

"What's a mausoleum?" He knew what Balacruf was, of course. The old dynasty had fallen about a hundred years ago when Desians killed them off and took over.

Spirit was quiet for a half a minute, and when she finally looked up she had a bit of a smile. "You know… I'm not quite sure." She giggled, and Rowan joined her laughter. It was so nice to just be able to sit and laugh about something with Spiritua the way they used to before all this Chosen business started.

"Maybe it's like a palace?" Rowan suggested. "I think Kratos said it was on the island, and that's where the capital city was. So it could be in the ruins of the palace."

Spirit nodded. "That would make sense."

Rowan frowned. "Wait a second. How does Kratos intend on getting to that island, anyway? Only you two can fly. The strait between it and the mainland isn't very wide, but it's still too far to swim."

Spirit shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure he has a plan, though."

"Maybe he plans on Martel providing a miracle so we can walk on water?"

Spirit gave him a disapproving look. "Martel doesn't work like that."

"Well," Rowan said in a heavily sarcastic tone, "what's the point of worshipping someone if they can't even make someone walk on water? What kind of deity is that?" He threw his hand up in the air. "I demand a right proper miracle before I waste any more time being on the fence about her!"

Spirit smiled a bit and leaned her head down on his shoulder again. "I still don't know why I missed you."

* * *

Terra finished Rowan's Key Crest late that night. She had provided them with dinner, though neither Rowan nor Spiritua ate very much after Spiritua found a chisel in her Dwarf Stew Surprise.

"Alright, you," Terra said, marching over to where Rowan was sitting on the bench. Spiritua lay on her stomach on the floor, flipping through a book she had found.

"Is it done?" Rowan asked, looking up expectantly.

Terra nodded, and held out a piece of golden metal. It looked like a bracelet, with intricate carvings all around the edge. Spiritua closed the book and sat up on her knees to get a closer look.

Rowan made a face. "I thought you said it was a crest? That looks like a bracelet."

"How astute of you!" Terra said. "That would be because it _is_ a bracelet."

The face Rowan made shifted closer and closer to a full-out pout. "But bracelets are for girls."

"Is that so? Then you know what else is for girls? Living."

"Why does it have to be a bracelet?"

"Because the Exsphere is already fused to your skin, so it's too late to give you a standard crest. The only way is to make it into a bracelet."

"Can't it be something a bit more… masculine?"

Terra rolled her eyes. "Look, pretty boy, it's wear this or die slowly and painfully. What's it gonna be?"

Rowan glared at the offensive bracelet and grumbled something incomprehensible.

"What's that? Speak up, boy."

"I said I'll take the stupid bracelet." He held out his left arm as well as he could and Terra slid the golden band around his hand. It hung loose on his wrist for a second, and then glowed with orange light and shrunk before his eyes. It burned hotly against his skin for a couple seconds and Rowan instinctively pulled his hand away from Terra, but a second later it cooled down again, leaving the band fused tightly to his skin.

He twisted his wrist experimentally. "Does it come off?"

"It could," Terra said. "Be painful and I wouldn't recommend it unless you fancy yourself as a hulking monster."

"Er… right. I'll just leave it on then."

Terra patted his elbow. "Good lad. Off you go, then. I've got to be getting packed for the trip to Agartha. Was nice to meet you two."

Spiritua stood and handed her the book she had borrowed. "Thank you very much, Miss Terra."

The siblings walked to the staircase and began the long walk back to the surface.

Fifteen minutes later, they were back at the watch house. Kratos walked over to them the second they entered.

"Did everything go as planned?" he asked.

Rowan nodded. "Yeah. I'm all bracelet-ed up and Terra's off to the city to make more of these things."

"Very good. Then make sure you get a good rest tonight, because tomorrow morning we're leaving Cleopolica."

Since they were in the presence of Pierce and some other local soldiers, Rowan held back adding, '_Finally_'. Cleopolica was a nice city and all, but he was getting anxious to get on the road again.


	17. Group Dynamics

Hello, sorry for the long delay; I was out of town for a week.

**Chapter Seventeen: Group Dynamics**

By the evening of the day they left Cleopolica, Kratos was beginning to miss the long, endless days of solitude that Welgaia offered. In recent years he had found himself feeling nostalgic for the 'good old days' of travelling around with Yuan, Mithos, and Martel, but with their travelling group now he remembered all the reasons he'd hated those days of travelling with a ragtag group of very different people.

First there was Pierce. Pierce was a good man and a good soldier and after their experience at the ranch, Kratos knew Pierce was reliable. Ordinarily he wouldn't be a problem, but Shea was putting him on edge. Pierce seemed convinced that Shea was trying to make a run for it at every turn. If she walked too far ahead or too far behind he shouted at here and insisted on walking no more than three paces behind her at all times.

In fact, an argument started less than half an hour after leaving Cleopolica. Shea had walked too far ahead and was clearly trying to make a run for it, so Pierce grabbed the strap of her bag and pulled back. He's noticed the contents of her bag and commented.

"That's an awful lot of gels you've got there."

Shea had snapped back, "We're on a dangerous journey, not a picnic. I just hope I've brought enough."

"And where did you get all these expensive gels, if I may ask?"

Shea crossed her arms and said, "I didn't _steal_ them if that's what you're implying."

"Sure you didn't. I suppose you decided to buy these, even though you steal everything else. I have half a mind to go back to Cleopolica and return them."

Kratos intervened, hoping they could settle this quickly and continue moving on. "We can't head back; that would waste too much time. Despite the gels' origins, you cannot deny that they will be useful."

Pierce glared at Shea with fury, but he was able to keep his voice calm when he spoke. "Yes, of course you're right." He started walking again, and Kratos quickly took the lead, glad that the matter had been resolved fairly quickly.

There was another problem with having Shea in the party now, and that problem centered on Rowan. At one point on the walk down the mountain trail, Pierce warned Rowan that it was dangerous to walk so close to the edge of the path. Rowan responded to this by puffing out his chest and claiming that there was no reason for him to be worried because he was accustomed to walking on dangerous ground from all his time spent on boats. A minute later, while looking back at her rather than the ground in front of him, Kratos had to snatch his arm out of the air when he miss-stepped and nearly fell off a cliff.

Kratos had not been a youth so long ago to forget the stupidity that accompanied a crush, but the last thing they needed on this journey was for Rowan to became even _more _reckless and brazen than he already was.

Rowan was causing his own problems even without Shea, though. After being separated, he seemed determined to make it up to Spiritua by watching her like a hawk. When he wasn't making gooey eyes at Shea, he was making sure Spiritua had enough water in her canteen, or that the sun wasn't too hot, or that she wasn't tired, or any other issue that he might be worrying about. By evening, Kratos was pretty sure even Spiritua was getting annoyed with him.

Spiritua, though, did not annoy him. She didn't natter on incessantly, she didn't rush into danger, she carried her own weight, and she did was she was told without complaint. She made for a very easy travelling companion, and for most of the day's walk across the plains towards the coast, he and Spiritua walked in amicable silence at the front of the party while the other three squabbled in the back.

When they stopped for the evening, Kratos was thankful that setting up their campsite took everyone's minds off of bickering. Kratos volunteered to be the one to gather firewood, because wandering off on his own sounded like a really great idea. Noishe followed him, flying off ahead and scouting out where the best fallen branches and dead shrubs were.

As Kratos bent down and picked one up, he looked down at the little bird, who had stopped to point out a branch. "It's nice to be quiet, isn't it?"

Noishe chirped, but it was not a happy chirp. Kratos wondered if his ability to tell the emotion of a bird's chirp was a sign that he needed to spend more time around humans. In any case, he knew Noishe was enjoying the trip, because the bird had not been overly fond of the sterile silence of Welgaia. Kratos enjoyed being able to sit and not be disturbed for days at a time, but Noishe missed the sounds of nature and the freedom of the sky.

Noishe tweeted again as Kratos stood upright.

"You're right," Kratos said. "I _am_ used to this." While the antics of the group had annoyed him today, he couldn't deny that it was all very familiar. It didn't seem like an entire hundred years ago that their foursome had just set off from Meltokio. Mithos made snide comments about Kratos' humanity at every opportunity and complained loudly to Martel about him, while Yuan acted just like Rowan was now, making doe eyes at Martel and trying to show off his prowess as a soldier and a mage. It took many months of travelling for the four of them to calm down into a friendly rhythm – to the point where they could go a day without an argument nearly driving them apart.

He wasn't going to let that happen with this group. The journey was too important to risk having the travellers explode in each other's faces. If they started fighting again, he'd –

Noishe chirped loudly right in his ear and Kratos drew his blade quickly, looking around for an enemy. Noishe made for a good early alarm when something was trying to sneak up on him, but even without the bird, Kratos' instincts were honed enough that he could tell something was coming. And yet, when he looked around at the sparse trees and low shrubs around him, he couldn't see any movement other than the distant silhouettes of his party. Noishe took the skies, and Kratos snapped his neck up to follow the path of the bird. Sure enough, he saw a figure descending towards him, hovering on pinkish-purple wings.

Kratos sheathed his sword as the figure landed. "Yuan," he said, crossing his arms. "What are you doing here?"

Yuan strolled up to him, his cape swishing in the grass. "And good evening to you, too. Nice to see that your time away from Welgaia hasn't made any change to your manners."

Kratos rolled his eyes. "Good evening, Yuan. What do you want?"

"To be perfectly honest, I was worried about you." Yuan stopped short in front of Kratos and eyed him carefully. "I was waiting for you to reach the next seal, but you were taking a really long time to get there. I was worried something had happened to you, so I went and asked Mithos if he knew what you were up to. And you know what he told me?"

"I can't fathom a guess."

"Apparently you've been taking time off from the Journey of Regeneration to take down a human ranch."

Kratos kept his face stony. "And if I have?"

Yuan smacked his forehead. "Kratos, what were you thinking? Mithos is _furious_."

"I wasn't aware you were so concerned over the fate of Desians." Noishe chirped angrily at Yuan from Kratos' shoulder, mirroring his master's emotions.

"I'm not," Yuan said, "but I do worry about you. I'm not terribly keen on the Desian thing either, but you know how Mithos is. He's throwing a fit and I heard him cursing at you using words I can only imagine you taught him in the first place."

"Don't worry," Kratos said. "I'm certain I can withstand the brunt of a fourteen-year-old's temper tantrum. I don't intend on making overthrowing ranches a habit, and if you think it will help, tell Mithos that I did everything I could to avoid going to the ranch. The Chosen was prepared to march in all by herself, so following her was the only thing I could do."

"Well, it probably won't help, but I'll tell him anyways." Yuan shook his head. "Just be more careful from now on, ok? This was supposed to be a pretty easy mission; you don't need to throw yourself into bloody revolutions, especially when said revolutions are against your own organization."

"I'll keep that in mind. Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"Pretty much. Just be careful, Kratos. I'll see you at the mausoleum." Yuan pulled his wings out again and took off, disappearing into the night sky. Kratos watched him go for a minute or so before turning around to head back to camp.

He arrived just in time for another argument to break out. Shea was applying an apple gel to Rowan's arm to encourage faster healing, and Pierce commented, "I hope I never get injured enough that you have to use those stolen goods on me."

Shea didn't bother looking up to snap, "I told you before, they aren't stolen."

Pierce seemed about to comment, but in an effort to preserve the peace, Kratos stepped in. "Where did you acquire them, then?"

"Made them myself."

"Really?" Rowan said, looking up from his arm with an expression of awe. "You know how to make gels?"

Shea nodded. "My master is the one who invented them a long time ago. He taught me how."

"Who was your master?" Kratos asked. He positioned his gathered firewood in a cleared area of dirt.

"Boltzman," Shea said. She finished Rowan's arm and rewrapped it with bandages. "I studied under and travelled with him for about ten years, but he passed away just two years ago."

"I've heard of Boltzman," Pierce said. "He visited Cleopolica several times. I wasn't aware he was dead, though. I thought he was an elf."

"He was an elf," Shea said. "But he was very, very old. He was a child when the Kharlan War began."

Rowan whistled. "That must have been a _really_ long time ago."

"Over a thousand years ago," Kratos said. "I was under the impression he practiced magical healing, though."

She nodded. "He did, but he studied practical healing as well. He believed that the two practices aren't mutually exclusive, and study of one form of healing can be applied to the other. That's what made him such a great healer."

From the way Shea's face positively beamed as she spoke about him, it was obvious that she thought very highly of Boltzman. Kratos couldn't blame her – from what he knew of Boltzman, the man was responsible for almost every modern healing spell in use today. He recalled Martel speaking very highly of him when he had asked her about her own First Aid magic.

This had effectively diffused the argument, and Kratos was glad when they were able to go the rest of the evening without bickering. This of course couldn't last forever, and the next round of arguing began when Spiritua, who had blessedly been quiet as a shy mouse all evening, announced that she was going to sleep so could the others keep it down, please?

"The Chosen is right," Pierce said. "We should all be going to sleep. We have a long walk tomorrow. For safety, Kratos and I will trade off keeping watch."

"I can help too," Shea said.

Pierce gave her a look. "I'm here in the first place to make sure you don't run off. Do you really think I trust you to be the only one awake?"

She crossed her arms. "Fine, don't accept my help. I was just trying to alleviate you two from having to stay up all night, but if you can't trust me I guess I understand."

"I'm here too," Rowan said. "I can share shifts with you."

"No," Shea snapped. "You're still healing. You need rest."

"I feel fine!" Rowan said.

"No you don't," Shea said, rolling her eyes at him. "You hurt everywhere, you just don't want to admit it. And those hurts will go away a lot faster if you get a full night's sleep. As your doctor, I insist you sleep properly."

"You can't boss me around!"

Kratos stepped in. "I believe you should listen to Miss Selket's advice. She is well-trained and if she thinks you'll heal faster by getting more rest, then do it. You do want to be able to fight again soon, correct?"

Rowan hung his head and mumbled, "…Yes."

"Then go to bed."

Rowan scowled and gave Kratos a petulant look, but didn't argue the point.

"Alright," Pierce said, "everyone else, go to sleep. I'll awaken Kratos midway through the night."

Kratos joined the others in lying down on their blankets. Noishe hopped across the blanket until he was level with Kratos' face and chirped.

Kratos gave the little bird a small smile. "I appreciate the offer, Noishe, but I doubt the others would be comfortable with you taking a shift."

* * *

"I'm afraid this lunch has gone on entirely too long," Regal said. "I really should be getting back to work."

"Aw," Lloyd said. "Can't you keep going, Dad?"

"Not right now," Kratos said. "Regal is right; it's been a long lunch and I'd like to take a break. You go out and enjoy yourself in Altamira and we'll get together again this evening."

Lloyd wanted to be sad, but the prospect of being given free time to fool around in Altamira all afternoon couldn't keep a smile off his face. "Alright." He looked over to Zelos and Sheena and said, "Do you guys want to go to the amusement park?"

"Sure," Sheena said. "That sounds fun."

"Do you want to come, Presea?" Colette asked, looking over and smiling sweetly at her.

"Very well," Presea said.

"What about you, Dad?" Lloyd asked.

"No, thank you, Lloyd," Kratos said. "I'll see you this evening at the hotel."

Lloyd hadn't really been expecting Kratos to go for it, but he was still a bit sad when Kratos rejected him. He wasn't going to let this get him down, though. Lloyd pushed back from the table and stood up. "Well, come on, guys! Let's go have some fun!"

The rest of the group, sans Kratos and Regal, followed Lloyd out of the restaurant, planning to reunite at dinnertime to resume the story.

* * *

On the third morning after leaving Cleopolica, they reached the coast. Rowan grinned when they cleared the last hill and came in view of the ocean. A sandy beach stretched along the eastern coast of the continent, and a cool, salty breezy blew across his face. He could see the island across the channel, but it might as well have been across the ocean because he had no idea how they were going to reach it.

* * *

Sheena interrupted to say, "I suppose this was before the bridge was built, right?"

Kratos nodded. "The bridge we took to get to the Balacruf Mausoleum was only built about two hundred years ago."

"Man, what a pain," Lloyd said. They were gathered at the table once again, this time for dinner. Lloyd and the others were all sporting pinkish faces from being out in the sun all day, and Lloyd's hair was even wilder than usual due to entirely too many rides on the roller coaster.

* * *

"The only solution," Kratos said, "is that I will have to fly everyone across one by one. This may take some time, although if the Chosen feels confident enough she can help out."

Rowan wasn't paying complete attention, because he had just spotted a small sailboat in the distance. It was about half a mile down the beach, resting on its side. The waves gently lapped the stern and the bare mast jutted into the air. "What about that," Rowan said pointing to the boat. "Who owns that boat? Maybe they can give us a lift."

Kratos looked in the direction of Rowan's finger and frowned. "That is a Desian boat."

"What are Desians doing on the island?" Shea asked, crossing her arms with a frown. "Nobody lives there. Who are they trying to enslave?"

"That island used to be the seat of power of the Balacruf Dynasty," Kratos said. "About seventy-five years ago, an uprising occurred there from survivors of the razing of the capital city. The Desians now keep an outpost there to keep people out of the city and of the mausoleum, believing that allowing people to pay their respects to past kings may inspire patriotism."

"Whoa, wait," Rowan said, snapping his head back to the island. "You mean there's Desians all over that island?"

Kratos nodded. "Not as many as at a ranch, but yes."

Rowan grinned and made a fist. "Oh hell yes. I spent most of the battle at Cleopolica unconscious, so I would just _love_ the chance to kill some of those bastards."

"Uh, no," Shea said, whacking him lightly across the back of his head. "As your doctor, I expressly forbid you from getting into a fight at _least_ until you get your arm out of a sling."

"Then I'll take it out right now!" Rowan said, beginning to pull his arm out. "I'm not going to let anything stop me from beating – _owww_." He jerked his arm too hard and a stab of pain lashed through his forearm.

Shea snorted. "My point exactly."

Kratos looked between Rowan, who was gently massaging his arm, and the island. "It may be better to leave you here," he said. "You can't fight so you'd just be a liability and it would be a waste of my time to carry you all the way over."

Upon hearing that he was going to be left behind, Rowan snapped to attention. "What? No way! You can't just leave me sitting on the beach! Besides, I just spotted a boat over there. We could just sail it across and save us all some time."

"A Desian boat," Pierce pointed out.

"All the more reason to steal it." Rowan put his fisted hand on his hip and glared at Kratos.

Kratos wasn't backing down, though. "You can't just hop on a boat and expect to sail it. I have no idea how to sail a boat."

"Rowan can," Spiritua piped up, reminding everyone that she did indeed exist. Rowan gave her a quick smile of thanks as Spiritua continued to say, "He can sail the boat to the island and wait for us outside the mausoleum."

Rowan gave Spiritua an annoyed frown that she was supporting the idea that he shouldn't be allowed to fight, but she gave him a knowing look that clearly said, _you can't fight and you know it, so stop whining._

Shea asked Rowan, "Can you steer the boat with only one arm?"

Rowan eyed up the boat. It was about the same size as the one he regularly went fishing on. "Not by myself," he said. "But as long as the rest of you follow my instructions we should be fine." Rowan took a moment to enjoy the thinly veiled look of frustration on Kratos' face at the prospect of having to obey Rowan's directions.

All Kratos said, though, was, "If we're going to take a boat, we should sail it up the coast of the island to the remains of the harbour at the Carski ruins. It will save time."

* * *

"What are the Carski ruins?" Sheena asked.

"They were the remains of the capital city of the Balacruf Dynasty," Kratos said. "The Desians razed the city to the ground when they took over."

Lloyd wrinkled his brow and cocked his head to the side. "Raised it to the ground? Was it underground like Agartha?"

Presea was the one to answer. "In this instance, Kratos was using the word 'raze' to mean 'destroy completely', rather than 'raise' meaning 'to lift up."

"Oh," Lloyd said, and then grinned. "Thanks, Presea!"

"You are welcome, Lloyd."

Colette said, "I've never heard of the Carksi ruins before. I wonder why Professor Raine never mentioned them?"

"They were already in ruins four thousand years ago," Kratos said. "Hardly anything remains of them today."

* * *

The water was calm and the wind was in their favour, so Rowan leaned back and enjoyed himself. He sat in the stern of the boat next to the tiller, lost in thought as the current gently rocked the boat. Being on a boat was relaxing. He'd spent so much of his life out on the lake that he felt more at home now than he had since they left Luin. It didn't hurt that for once on this journey, he was the one with the most experience.

Just by watching the others, he could easily tell who was accustomed to boating. Spirit sat with her legs curled under her on a bench at the prow, letting the wind whip her hair behind her and the spray of water strike her serene face. Amidships, Kratos and Pierce poured over a map of some kind, both looking like they were trying to forget that they were at sea. Rowan had recommended that they head below decks, but Kratos seemed to find the idea of leaving everything up to Rowan above decks unpleasant.

And then Shea came stumbling toward him with her arms out at her sides like someone walking a tightrope, but the way she stumbled with every rock of the boat indicated that she was walking a tightrope very poorly. She practically fell onto the bench seat next to Rowan, and then sat there for a moment with a look of relief that she had managed not to fall overboard yet.

Rowan smirked at her. "You don't have very good sea legs, do you?"

Shea crossed her arms disgruntledly. "May I remind you that I grew up in a desert? We don't have very many boats in Triet."

"Ah. Right." Rowan chose not to contemplate how horrid it must have been to live somewhere so dry. "You do know how to swim, right?"

She nodded. "Enough to not drown. Master Boltzman taught me."

"From the sound of it, Boltzman was a pretty wonderful guy. Is there anything he couldn't do?"

Entirely against Rowan's intentions, this comment made Shea's expression turn sad. She stared out at the ocean with a solemn look and sighed. "He couldn't cure poison."

Rowan raised an eyebrow. "Really? That seems like a pretty important thing for a healer to know."

Shea turned back to Rowan, and the sadness was not so much gone from her face as it was expertly hidden behind her confidence. "Oh, he knew how to cure poisons with the right ingredients. But elves haven't yet invented a spell that can cure a poisoning." Her eyes lit up and she began talking very quickly, the words tumbling out of her mouth as if they were in a race to be said. It was clear that this was a subject she spent a great deal of time thinking this over. "It's because there are hundreds of ways to be poisoned, and each one is slightly different in how it needs to be treated so coming up with a single healing arte that can take care of all of them is very difficult. If there was a physical cure-all to base it on, maybe. But a panacea is just the stuff of myths."

Rowan stared at her with his mouth slightly open. He had been trying to listen to what she was saying, but she spoke so quickly and about a topic he knew absolutely nothing about that it all turned into a muddled mess in his brain. By the end of it, he was pretty sure she had been talking more to herself than to him.

Shea saw his look of confusion and laughed. "Ha! Sorry, I get a little carried away sometimes. I've done a lot of research on curing poisons and venoms. You didn't understand a word of that, did you?"

Rowan shook his head. "No, not really."

"I didn't really come over here just to dump all this medical talk on you. I just found that sitting in the front of the boat with Spiritua and having all the water and wind whipped in my face was making me nauseas."

"It's fine," said Rowan. "You're welcome to sit back here with me. Er, not 'with me', I mean, just here in the stern – ah, you know what I mean."

Shea laughed and shook her head a bit. Then she asked, "What do you mean by stern? What is stern back here?"

"Huh? No, stern is just what you call the back of the boat."

"Why do you call it that?"

Rowan thought for a moment. "I don't know, that's just what it's called." He pointed to the front of the boat and said, "The front is called the bow. That's the port side," he pointed left, "and that's the starboard side." His arm moved to the right.

"Why don't they just call it left and right?" Shea asked.

"Because sometimes there are emergencies at sea when it's important to be able to differentiate between the sides of the ship right away. If you used left and right, you might have a bit of hesitation trying to figure out whose left you mean. But port and starboard are fixed, based on the view from aft."

"But where is aft?"

"That's where we are now."

"I thought you said this was the stern!"

"Well they're kind of different. The stern is the actual part of the boat, and aft more describes the direction."

Shea stared at him for a couple of seconds, and then laughed again. "Well. Now I know how you felt a couple minutes ago. Let's make a deal: I won't talk to you about medicine if you don't talk to me about boats."

Rowan laughed. "Deal."

* * *

"Why is the food taking so long to get here?" Lloyd whined, resting his chin in his arms. "I'm so hungryyyyyy."

"How can you be hungry?" Sheena asked, giving him an incredulous look. "You ate three whole things of cotton candy today!"

Kratos gave Lloyd a disapproving look that he pointedly ignored. "Cotton candy doesn't count as food. It's just… fluff."

Kratos sighed. "You do realize that it is nothing but concentrated sugar, right?"

"I know that," Lloyd said. He threw his hands out in exasperation. "That's what makes it so good!"

"In answer to your question, Lloyd," Zelos said, "it's because this is a swanky place. The time it takes your food to arrive is inversely proportional to how expensive it is."

"Well that's stupid," Lloyd grumbled. "If I'm paying a whole bunch, I expect my food in a timely manner!"

Regal raised an eyebrow. "Lloyd… you're not the one paying."

Presea said, "The food takes longer because it is assumed that for a fancy dinner you wish to partake in conversation with your companions."

Lloyd pouted. "I'm still hungry.


	18. In the Ruins

Ugh, I don't know if what caused the delay of this chapter can even really be called Writer's Block. It was just... ONE scene that I just could not write, but as soon as I forced my way through that, the rest flowed pretty easily. Hopefully it won't happen again. Sorry.

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: In the Ruins**

The port at the Carski ruins had seen better days. In fact, its days had probably only been getting progressively worse since the sacking of the city a hundred years ago. The first four docks they'd passed had all but crumbled into the ocean, and Rowan had been getting a bit nervous about where exactly they were going to dock this boat. Luckily he spotted a mostly intact stone dock jutting out into the harbour, and wasted no time barking orders to the rest of the 'crew'. There was just something supremely satisfying about standing in the middle of the boat and watching Kratos' face as he yelled at him to "tie off the stern line on the port cleat – no that's not port, I meant left! Not my left, you idiot! That's not how you – Spirit, show Kratos how to tie a damn knot properly!"

Kratos would probably pay him back for this abuse, if the seething look of barely contained frustration was anything to judge by, but Rowan was content to enjoy himself for now. As long as they needed him to dock the boat and then sail it back to the mainland afterwards, Kratos couldn't throw him overboard.

They slowly approached the dock, and when they grew level with it Rowan said, "Pierce, Kratos, climb out onto the dock. Shea, Spirit, toss them the ropes."

Pierce and Kratos did as instructed, and the boat bobbed a little as they stepped off of it. Spirit and Shea passed them the ropes and the men tied them off to the stone posts. When the boat was secured, Shea and Spirit climbed off. Rowan took one last look around the boat to make sure everything was secure and they hadn't left anything behind, and then headed to the dock. Pierce held out his hand. Rowan hesitated. He never needed help getting off a boat. But, he usually had two good arms to balance and falling and hurting himself in the past had never carried the risk of hurting an already broken arm quite so much. He took Pierce's hand.

On the dock, he double checked the knots on the posts. The last thing they needed was for the boat the drift away. But the knots were satisfactory, so Rowan declared the boat properly docked. "We can head to the mausoleum now."

"Actually," Kratos said, "_we_ are going to the mausoleum. You are staying here."

"But-"

"We already discussed this," Kratos said. "There are probably Desians in the mausoleum and I don't want to be responsible for protecting you while you're handicapped. Wait here on the dock and we'll be back shortly."

Rowan hung his head. "Fine," he grumbled. "Might as well just wait on the boat, then."

"Wait," Shea said. "I'm going to stay behind as well."

All eyes turned to her. "I thought you said you could fight?" Kratos said.

"I can," Shea said, fingering the hilt of one of her knives on her belt. "But I would rather not. I think this is a good time to mention that I won't ever kill anyone."

"Huh?" Rowan said. "Why not?"

"Because I'm a doctor," she said. "And I took an oath to do no harm. I will incapacitate an opponent if I really need to, but if given the option, I choose not to fight and I will never kill a person."

"But these are just Desians," Rowan said. "You can kill them."

"Desians are people too."

"No they're not; they're half-elves."

Shea glared at him. "Yes, and half-elves are people too."

Rowan opened his mouth to protest, but Kratos said, "Enough. If Shea wishes to stay behind, so be it. However," he turned his eyes on her, "I will not tolerate it if your pacifism endangers the group."

"It won't," Shea said, meeting his eyes with a steely glare of her own. "I know exactly how to knock someone out without having to kill them. Trust me, I'm a doctor."

"If you're sure," Kratos said. "I'm certain Captain Asgard and I can take care of the Chosen well enough."

Pierce frowned. "I am uncomfortable leaving Shea here unsupervised…"

Shea rolled her eyes at him. "Where am I going to run off to? We're on an island."

Pierced sighed. "I suppose it's unavoidable. You two had better not get into trouble while we're gone."

"We won't," Rowan said. He was getting annoyed that with one arm in a sling, he couldn't properly cross his arms in exasperation. Just one more little reminder that being injured totally sucked.

"Good luck you guys," Shea said as Kratos, Pierce and Spirit headed off.

Spirit smiled at Shea, but her smile vanished when she turned her eyes on Rowan. Her look very clearly said, "For the love of Origin, don't you dare do anything stupid."

Rowan leaned against a post as the other three walked out of sight. When they had left the dock and disappeared into the ruins of the city, Rowan turned his head to Shea and said, "So what are we going to do? Hang out on the boat?"

"Actually," Shea said, "I'm going to head into the city. You can come with me if you like."

Rowan looked at the boat, bobbing gently in the ocean, and then at the ruined buildings and fallen columns of the destroyed city. "Well, I'm not just going to sit on the boat all day. Let's go."

When they entered the city proper, Rowan took a moment to look around at the collapsed and ruined buildings. He could tell that Carski must have one been a beautiful city, filled with white stone and tall pillars. Even the weeds growing through the cracks couldn't hide the fact that a staircase they passed was once a marvel of white marble, although the building they led to was gone. The cobblestone streets were mostly still intact, if cracked here and there and overgrown with dandelions in some places.

"A hundred years or so ago, this would probably be a nice place to live."

Shea laughed. "This is the upper-class portion of the city. Sorry, but I think someone of your social class would find things a little less pretty."

Rowan's face fell. "Yeah, well you live in a cave."

She shrugged. "Never said I wouldn't be in the slums with you."

"Ah," Rowan said, "but you said it wouldn't be pretty, and if you're there it obviously would be."

"Aren't you sweet." They turned down another ruined street, Rowan trailing behind Shea. She was walking with a purpose, with fast, confident strides while her eyes darted around the buildings.

"You know… I get the feeling we're not just sightseeing."

"Why do you say that?" She stopped and peered down a side street, but it was a dead-end so she kept moving on.

"You're looking for something. I can tell."

"And if I am?"

"Tell me what it is so I can help you look." Rowan's imagination drifted to the thought of hidden Balacruf gold buried under the city. While he quite enjoyed the mental image of sliding down a pile of gold coins, Shea had to go and shatter his fantasies.

"…It's a library."

Rowan wrinkled his nose. "A library? Don't you have those in Cleopolica?"

"There's one, but it's small," she said. "The royal Balacruf library used to be one of the biggest libraries in the world, rivalled only by the one in Fidalia. I'm just hoping there's something left of it."

"So how will we know the library when we see it?" Rowan looked around at all the crumbled buildings, trying hard to appear as excited as Shea obviously was.

"It will be – did you hear that?" She stopped and held up her arm to keep him from walking past her. "I heard voices."

Rowan asked softly. "Was it Spirit and the others?"

"I don't think so." She bit her lip and eyed the crossroad up ahead. "Let's hide and see who it is."

* * *

It took fifteen minutes to hike from the ruins to the mausoleum, which was still in pretty good shape. There was a well-worn trail that led straight to the large white building, but when they got close they left the trail in fear of Desians. There were dense bushes lining the trail, but after breaking through them (or flying over as Kratos chose) the vegetation thinned out and they were able to walk without too much trouble. When they reached the stone columns that surrounded the courtyard in front of the pyramid-shaped mausoleum, the group stopped and peered through the bushes.

There were three Desians sitting out front. They had a tent and one of them was poking a campfire with a stick.

"We're going to have to fight them," Kratos said. "I'll attach with magic from back here, and while they're surprised with that, we'll run in and finish them off. Chosen, you stay back here where it's safe."

The other two nodded and Kratos began charging up his mana. Half a minute later, he said, "Thunder Blade," and a giant sword descended from the sky, smashing into the group of Desians with a blast of lightning. The Desians shouted and fell backwards from the sudden attack, just as Kratos and Pierce ran forward, swords drawn. The Desians were still trying to get to their feet when Kratos and Pierce cut them down.

Kratos looked around, surveying the area in case there were more Desians nearby. He didn't see any, and once they got into the Mausoleum the Desians wouldn't be able to follow. He turned to the bushes to tell Spiritua to come out and join them, only to find her standing behind him.

"We're heading in now," was all he said, and the trio walked up the white marble steps to the entrance of the mausoleum. The door was sealed, but there was a stone right in the middle of the entrance area with an indentation for a hand. "Chosen, place your hand on that stone. Cruxis has sealed the Mausoleum to keep any other intruders out, but you can open it."

She nodded and held her hand out to the stone. When her fingers touched its surface, the ground rumbled for a second and the thick stone door slid open.

"We'll need to be careful," Pierce said. "The Mausoleum is filled with traps and pitfalls to deter grave robbers."

Kratos nodded. "We'll take this slowly then." He entered the Mausoleum first, the heavy darkness of the tomb blinding him for a second after the bright afternoon light outside. Having angel eyes helped in more than just seeing distance, though, and within a few seconds his eyes adjusted to the darkness.

"We need to head to the roof," he said to the other two when they joined him inside. "Be on the lookout for traps, but it hasn't been abandoned long enough for monsters to have moved in."

They headed inwards, but didn't make it very far before Kratos stopped right at the beginning of a corridor.

"What is it?" Pierce asked. "A trap?"

Kratos nodded. He could see the tips of spikes in the walls, and could only imagine that they would come crashing together should one step between them. He looked up, but the spikes took up too much of the wall to be avoided by flying over or ducking under them. He was pretty sure this was the way they needed to go, though, because he could see that up ahead, the path they had been on ended.

"This is the only way to go," Pierce said with one hand on his elbow and the other stroking his chin as he stared in thought at the walls. "Obviously people had to get through here to bring bodies through. There must be a way to disengage the spikes."

Kratos glanced around the hall, and then picked up a stone that had crumbled off of a pillar. "First let's see exactly how these spikes work." He tossed the stone into the corridor, and watched as it sailed smoothly between the spikes. Nothing happened until the stone hit the ground, at which point there was a soft _snick_ followed by a quite loud _whumph!_ and then a deafening _CRUNCH_. There was then a long moment of silence, and then a light creaking as the twin walls of spikes were dragged back into their walls.

"Well," Pierce said, his loose hair slightly windblown from the sudden rush of metal. "At least now we know that it's activated by pressure on the floor."

"Just fly over it, then," Spiritua said.

Kratos looked down at her, and saw that she had already pulled out her wings. He was pleased that she was finally beginning to think like an angel. She took off and flew cleanly between the spikes before he even had a chance to say he should go first just in case there was another trip. She had already landed on the other side when Kratos lifted Pierce off the ground and took off.

There were two more sets of spikes lining the corridor, but they easily flew right past them. "Let's just hope that the rest of the traps are this easy to bypass," Kratos said.

* * *

Rowan and Shea darted behind a large chunk of fallen arch and crouched low. Rowan heard the voices now too, and they were definitely not the voices of his companions. He peeked out from around the edge and saw a group of Desians turn onto their street. His blood boiled when he saw them and he instinctively reached for his rings. Every scar on his body burned with hatred for Desians and he just want to tear them to pieces and make them pay for everything they'd done to him and his people.

His hand clenched around the handle of one his rings, and then gentle fingers curled around his wrist. He looked up and met Shea's eyes. She shook her head slowly. He took a deep breath and a few seconds later the surge of anger subsided. There was no way the two of them could take on six Desians, and getting themselves killed wouldn't help anyone.

The Desians were getting close now, so the pair leaned in close together and tried to make as little sound as possible. They could hear the Desians talking, and luckily the group seemed unaware of their presence.

"…probably not even in the city anymore," one of them said.

"Yeah, but you know the captain. Once he saw that boat on the docks he was just _determined_ to find the trespassers."

"I, for one, am glad we got sent to search the city. Let the other platoon hunt them down in that creepy mausoleum."

Their voices started getting fainter and farther away, until the group had turned around another street and vanished from sight.

"Desians," Rowan hissed as they came out of hiding. "Bastards walking around like they own the place. This was _our_ city first – how dare they call us trespassers!"

Shea gave him a bemused smile. "'Our' city? You've never even been here before."

Rowan scowled. "I'm speaking on behalf of the human race, and more specifically the Balacruf kingdom."

"Count me out of that, then," Shea said. "Triet was never part of Balacruf. I don't actually know much about them, to be honest. Just stories here and there."

"Really?" They resumed their walk and Rowan felt a little bubble of pride at this. Shea always seemed so knowledgeable about everything and made him feel pretty stupid, so it was nice when he knew something that she didn't.

"Most of my education was in the sciences, and the history I learned before leaving Triet was, well, Trietan."

"Hey, in any of those stories you heard, did you hear anything about the lost heir to the throne?"

"Yes, actually." They paused to climb over a pillar that had fallen right across the street. "That's a fairly popular story. They say that the youngest daughter of the Balacruf dynasty escaped the massacre when the Desians came to Carski, and that someday her descendant will return, overthrow the Desians, and return peace to Sylvarant. Master Boltzman says it's hogwash."

"You don't think it could be true at all? I mean, it's _possible_…"

She shrugged. "I suppose. But even if the princess did escape, and even if she has a descendant in hiding somewhere today, and even if that descendant felt inclined to try and take back the throne… how? How is one person supposed to overthrow the Desians? They'd need an army, and I don't think Sylvarant is equipped to support one right now. Being royalty doesn't give you magical powers, you know."

Rowan shrugged. "I don't know, it was just a thought. Could help with morale."

"Your sister is doing that, you know. She's the Chosen of Mana. To anyone who believes in Martel, knowing that she's on this journey would give them a _lot_ of hope."

Rowan frowned. "I guess so…" It was still weird to think of Spirit as some kind of angelic prophesied chosen one. To the rest of the world she might be the all-holy Chosen, but to him she was just his baby sister. It was hard to place all your hopes for the world on the shoulders of someone who had thrown up on him every time he held her as a baby.

Shea turned right at the next crossroads, and then stopped and stared ahead with lit-up eyes. "I found it!"

Rowan rounded the corner as well, and straight ahead he saw another collapsed building. There were white marble steps covered in fallen pillars and what looked like a domed roof was now caved in. "How do you know that's the library?"

She pointed to broken chunk of stone covered in letters. "It says so on the sign right there, silly."

Rowan looked at the carved letters, but they might as well have been meaningless squiggles. Nevertheless, he followed Shea as she ran up to the marble steps. The doorway was open, but it was only habit that led them to walk through it since there was a perfectly fine entrance through a collapsed well just to their left.

Shea was brimming at excitement as she stood in the entrance of the library, but Rowan couldn't understand what was so thrilling. Here and there he could see traces of a carpet, but most of it had burned away and left the grey stone floor showing. Hardly any of the bookcases were still standing, and most of the books were gone, too. Here were still a few volumes here and there, though.

As far as Shea was concerned, though, it might as well have been the world's biggest candy shop. She couldn't keep still as she ran straight to the closest books, and within seconds her eyes were glued to the page as she stood in the aisle. Rowan wandered over with considerably less enthusiasm. He just couldn't understand what was so wonderful about a handful of charred books from a hundred years ago.

"Hey, Rowan, look at this!" Shea said, passing the book to him. "This book is almost two hundred years old, so be _really_ gentle."

Suddenly the book was in his hands and he didn't dare move in case he dropped it. Shea would probably never forgive him for that, especially since he wasn't even getting anything out of holding it. There were no pictures on the page – nothing but a stream of letters that filled it from page to page.

"Uh…"

"Oh my gosh," Shea said, hands covering her mouth. "I didn't even think – you can't read, can you?"

More than anything in the world, he suddenly found himself wishing he could laugh and smile and say, 'hahaha, what are you talking about? Of course I can read – I'm not some stupid peasant!' Except he _was_ a stupid peasant, and until he'd started this journey, he'd never even given reading a second thought. Spiritua had learned from the priests at church, but other than priests and a few of the richer people in town, no one in Luin knew how to read. It just… wasn't a priority. Rowan had never felt inadequate for not knowing before, but now he couldn't help but feel like Shea was judging him.

She carefully took the book back from him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have assumed. Most of the poor patients I treat in Cleopolica can't, either." Her eyes went wide and added, "Not that I'm calling your poor! Er, but there's nothing wrong with that. If you were, I mean." She groaned and buried her face in her hands. "By Origin, I'm just making this worse, aren't I?"

Rowan watched the entire thing with a gradually growing smirk. He often felt intimidated by Shea's worldliness, and he didn't want to take pleasure in her discomfort, but… he was taking pleasure in her discomfort.

Shea dropped her hands and shook her head. "Anyway, before I shoved my foot in my mouth I was just trying to say that's it no big deal if you can't. Plenty of people don't know how to read. I didn't until Master Boltzman took me in. Sorry for dragging you to a library; I guess it's kind of underwhelming if you can't get anything out of it."

"No, it's ok," Rowan said quickly. "I don't mind hanging around here. It's an interesting building, at least."

Shea grinned. Rowan thought her smile was a bit too excited for what he had said, but then realized she was looking passed him, at something behind him. "Uh, Shea?"

She dashed past him, and Rowan turned around to see where she was off to now. A large book sat on a stone podium near the front of the building. By the time Rowan reached her, Shea was already flicking through the brittle yellowing pages. "It's a directory," she said to his unasked question. Rowan wasn't going to both asking what that even meant, but she explained anyways. "It lists all the books in the library and where they are."

"Um… fascinating." He tried to sound enthusiastic, but it was a difficult endeavour.

Her eyes flashed across the pages, and she bit her lip as her finger lightly ran down the list of books.

"Hey, Shea?" Rowan said. "It kind of looks like you're trying to find something specific. Weren't we just here to check out the library in general?"

She didn't look up from the page to answer him. "Well, I _am_ interested in the library in general, but you're right. Do you remember what I told you on the boat about there being no all-purpose poison cure?"

Rowan nodded.

"Well, I'm trying to fix that."

"So… how will a burned down library help?"

"Because if anyone in the past has done any research on the subject of a panacea, it might be here and it would give me a place to start. Speaking of which…" Her finger froze, hovering over a line of text. "Look at this!" She glanced at Rowan with an embarrassed look and amended, "I mean, uh, listen to this." Her eyes turned back to the page and she said, "The library has the only copy of the research notes of a physician known as Philippus Aureolus."

"Pardon?"

"He's famous for doing research on the Elixer of Life hundreds of years ago. If anyone knew anything about the panacea, he did."

Rowan wondered if there was even any point in trying to keep up with Shea. "Not very famous amongst fishermen, mind you."

"And look! The book was checked out!"

"What does that mean?" He was pretty sure it didn't mean the same thing as checking out an attractive woman, but then based on the way Shea was practically bouncing with excitement from looking at the title of this book, he wouldn't put it past her.

"It means it wasn't in the library when it burned down."

"Oh. Well, that's good. Where is it now then?"

Shea's excitement burst like an overblown bubble. She seemed to sink into the floor a bit as she said, "…I don't know."

Rowan didn't know much about books, but he tried to cheer her up. "Well, we know it wasn't burned, right? That's better than nothing."

She nodded with a forced smile. "You're right. I know it's out there, at least. And you know, there might be more complete records stored in the basement. That might give me a name at least."

Rowan nodded. "Yeah, exactly!"

"Let's go check out the basement then."

* * *

"I have long held respect and appreciation for our Balacruf ancestors," Pierce mused, staring down at the arrow which had bounced off his breast plate and then fell to the ground. "But if one more arrow comes flying out of these walls, I think all that appreciation will be gone."

Spiritua crouched and picked up the arrow. She turned it over in her hands, inspecting the arrowhead. It was old, made of stone unlike her metal-headed ones. The arrow felt heavy in her hands, but a free arrow was a free arrow. She blew some dust off of it and stuck it in her quiver with a satisfied smile.

"Well," Pierce said, "at least these booby traps are good for free ammunition."

"It shouldn't be too much farther," Kratos said. He sounded annoyed, but Spiritua couldn't blame him much for that. She was getting tired of constantly checking her steps to make sure she hadn't activated a trap, too. She understood that the designers were trying to deter grave-robbers, but this was just getting ridiculous.

She was just about to start moving again when she became aware of voices coming toward them. She frowned – unless the bodies of the dead were coming back to life and chatting, that probably meant someone had followed them in. Either Rowan and Shea had tagged along after all (and she really wouldn't put it past him), or some more Desians had found their friends killed and the door to the mausoleum left open.

"People are coming," Kratos said. He'd obviously heard them too, with his angel ears. Pierce was the only one to whom this was news. "Might be Rowan and Shea, might be Desians."

Spiritua gave the hallway they'd come down a worried look while Pierce automatically reached for his sword. Kratos shook his head at him. "I'm going to go find out who it is, and kill them if they're Desians. Captain Asgard, you stay with the Chosen and keep moving on."

"Good luck," Pierce said as Kratos walked briskly down the hall. He didn't reply.

"We may be being pursued," Pierce said to Spirit, "but it would be wise to maintain a slower pace. If we run we will likely only kill ourselves on a trap."

Spirit nodded in agreement, and then they set off. She was on edge, her hyper-sensitive ears picking up the tiniest noises and interpreting all of them as approaching Desians. The mausoleum was creepy enough with all the dead bodies lining the walls, and knowing that they couldn't run despite being hunted made her feel vulnerable. It came as only slight relief to know that the hunters couldn't run either.

They stopped when they reached a crossroads. The path that continued on in front of

them was covered in thick brass plates with inch-wide holes dotting the surface. There were several rectangular plates lined up edge-to-edge, turning a long stretch of the hall into what was probably a trap. She was pretty sure that this was the way they needed to go, partly because she assumed that the traps would be protecting the road to the heart of the mausoleum. That's where the grave-robbers would go, right?

And to make matters worse, she was sure she could hear voices from down the hall to the left, probably a different party of Desians. They needed to cross the brass floor quickly, but getting killed wouldn't help either. She could easily fly across, but Pierce…

She looked up at him, and by the expression on his face, his mind was running through all the same things. He said, "Can you carry me?"

Spirit bit her lip and looked between Pierce, a tall, muscular man wearing heavy armour, and the long stretch she'd need to carry him. She was strong as an angel now, but she'd never carried anyone before and she didn't know if her strength extended to her wings. Could they risk it?

She pulled her bow out from behind her back and crouched before the brass plate. She could hear the Desians down the hall getting closer, and tried to work fast. She carefully held the tip of her bow over the brass. When nothing happened, she lightly tapped it. Still nothing happened. She tapped it again, harder, and then continued to hit it with progressively harder strikes. When she lifted it a little and smacked it down on the brass, sharp metal spikes shot up from the holes on this rectangle and Spirit fell backwards onto her bottom in surprise.

Pierce gave her his hand to help her up, and then said, "It would appear they activate only if you apply enough pressure. Makes sense – the priests and such who are meant to be here can walk lightly across them, panicking thieves would try to run."

Spirit nodded, strapped her bow back in place, and then extended her wings. As Pierce took a slow, careful step onto the floor, she took off and flew over the brass plates. She felt bad leaving Pierce behind, but carefully walking across the floor was safer than risking her dropping him on it. That would most definitely set off the spikes.

When she landed on the other side, she looked back to see Pierce slowly making his way across. Each step was slow and delicate as he tried to not put much pressure down. On one hand it was good that he was avoiding the spikes, but she could hear Desians coming closer. She pulled out her bow and grabbed an arrow, just in case. The arrow happened to be her new stone-headed one. "Desians coming," she said. "Hurry."

Pierce glanced behind him and swore. "I can hear them coming, too. I don't want to risk running, though."

Pierce continued his slow walk across the plates and had reached the third and final segment when two Desians rounded the corner. "You! Freeze!" They raised bows of their own, one pointed as Pierce and the other at Spiritua. Spirit aimed her bow at one of them, but she knew she was at a disadvantage. By the time she shot one of them, the other could easily shoot Pierce, who was standing defencelessly on the brass with his hands held at chest level.

The Desians walked slowly forward, not giving the brass plates a second look. "Lower your weapon, girl, or I'll shoot your friend right here!"

Spirit met Pierce's eye. In a low voice, he said, "Run, Spiritua. Your life is more important than mine."

Her grip on her bow tightened. She couldn't just leave Pierce here… She hung her head and lowered her bow. And then she released the arrow, which flew straight into the floor by the Desians' feet. It hit the lip of one of the holes would a loud clang from the force of the arrow, and then three sounds happened. The first was a small clink of machinery, which was followed by a rather sickening _crunch_ and _squelch_ as the spikes shot straight through the Desians' feet. The third sound was a set of deafening screams that made Spirit wince. She didn't much like Desians, but she didn't like hearing them screaming in agony either.

Pierce looked somewhat shaken, but he forced himself to finish walking slowly lest he join the Desians with spikes through his feet. Spirit couldn't take her eyes off the Desians until Pierce reached her side. She didn't like hurting people, and would prefer to be able to kill enemies as quickly and painlessly as possible. Pierce put his hand on her shoulder. "It's ok," he said softly, seeing her stricken expression. "You saved both our lives. Now let's hurry in case they have friends."

Spirit nodded, and the pair dashed down the hall.


	19. Antidote

I kind of feel bad that I never have anything to say here. I guess I'll make this just a generic thank you to everyone for reading and even more thank you to everyone for reviewing. I appreciate your support.

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Antidote**

"Find what you were looking for?" Rowan wandered over to where Shea sitting cross-legged in the aisle, her nose buried in a book as she flipped through the pages. She didn't look up even when he was standing right over her. "Uh, Shea?"

Her head snapped up. "Huh, what?

"I asked if you found what you were looking for." Rowan had spent the last twenty minutes wandering the basement, being very bored. A lot of the books down here had survived the fire, which meant Shea had a lot of distractions to weed through.

"Almost," she said. "I've been looking through these record books, trying to find the last person to check out the journal. This one looks too old to have that information, but I'm getting close."

"Oh. Sorry I can't help."

"Don't worry about it." Her eyes turned back to the page. "I can take care of this by myself."

"Ok, then." Shea was focused on her book, so Rowan decided to resume wandering the basement. He hoped the others got back soon so they could get back on the boat. Sailing was infinitely more entertaining than hanging out in a library. In fact, now that they had a boat, it would make more sense to just sail down the coast rather than trying to cross the mountains. Although, that would mean Shea's whole reason for being here would be gone. What if Kratos sent her and Pierce back?

He wandered down the hall, wishing that the old Balacruf librarians could have at least painted the walls a nice colour. Boring grey stone failed to capture his interest. At the end of the hall, he started walking back up the stairs to the main level. As his foot came down on the top step, he frozen in place. He could hear voices from the main entrance.

"I really don't think anyone is hiding in the library."

"Probably not, but the captain said we have to check _everywhere_ in the city. Let's just humour her and search the place."

Rowan swore under his breath and dashed back down the hall. "Shea!" he hissed as he barrelled into the room. "Desians are here. They're searching the library."

Shea, who was standing and searching the bookshelf, gave him a worried look. "Can you distract them? I'm almost done here."

Rowan stared at her for a second without comprehension. "Um, what? Shea! Desians are coming _now_. We don't have time to look for a book!"

"Then leave without me. I'm not leaving until I find what I'm looking for!"

"Don't be stupid!" He waved his good arm around in exasperation to try and accent his point. "I don't care how smart this Philip Aurora guy was – no book is more important than your life."

Shea shook her head. "You don't get it. Finding where this book is may be my only lead in finding whether a panacea can possibly exist."

"I get it, but that's not worth dying for!"

Shea's look was hard and steady, her eyes burning with passion. "It is to me. Get out of here; I'll follow once I find what I'm looking for."

"You may not have a chance."

"I'm willing to risk that."

Rowan took a deep breath, and then nodded. "Alright. Good luck." He walked out of the room and stormed down the hall. Like hell he was just going to run away and leave Shea to get caught by Desians. He wouldn't be able to fight two Desians with only one arm, but he could distract them long enough to give Shea time to find her stupid book and get out.

* * *

Kratos was interrupted from telling his story by a waiter who came by and offered the group dessert menus. Lloyd jumped at the word 'dessert' and immediately pored over the list of options.

"Lloyd, you already ate entirely too much cotton candy at the amusement park," Kratos said, giving him an annoyed look.

Lloyd would have none of this. It was one thing for Kratos to be his father, and quite another for Kratos to think that gave him authority over how much candy Lloyd ate. He grinned at the waiter and said, "I'll have the chocolate sundae, please!" Then he glanced at Colette and said, "Do you want to split it with me, Colette?"

She smiled. "Sure, Lloyd!"

Kratos sighed and shook his head. "You had better not get sick, Lloyd."

* * *

"That looks like the entrance to the main chamber," Pierce said, pointing to a stone door down the hall. The path they needed to walk down was fairly short, but their passage was hindered by two things. The first was that the path was fairly narrow and though one side had a wall, the other had nothing but a drop off to another path two floors below. Second, and more pressingly, every few feet a plate of spikes shot out of the wall with a rhythmic clanking. "You should just fly over," Pierce said to Spirit. "I'll be able to dodge between those spikes if I time it right."

Spiritua unfolded her wings and floated into the air. She flew to the other side of the path without any trouble within seconds, and only wished that she were more confident in her abilities to be able to carry Pierce. Once on the other side, she watched nervously as Pierce dodged past the first spiky trap. He watched the next one for a few seconds to get a sense of the timing, and then leapt forward past that one as well. There was only one left, but Spiritua noticed that it was both the fastest, and the one that fluctuated between rhythms the most.

Pierce noticed this as well, and Spirit was close enough to see the nervousness on his face as he watched the spikes fly in and out of the wall. Spiritua met his eyes and gave him a slight smile, hoping to reassure him. She backed up to give him room to leap past her. He took a deep breath and then leapt forward.

There was a _click_ of machinery and the spikes flew out of the wall. In the span of about two seconds, Pierce's expression changed to 'oh shit' and he twisted his torso sideways to take the spikes straight to the chest. The spiky panel smashed into his brass breastplate with a loud _clang, _throwing him off the edge of the path.

Spiritua gasped and rushed to the edge of the path. Her hands were shaking; seconds earlier he had been standing right in front of her, and now he had toppled over a two story drop. She peered over the edge of the path, terrified of seeing Pierce's sprawled body on the floor below, but instead she broke into a smile when she saw Kratos flying towards her, Pierce in her arms.

They landed on the walkway and Pierce breathed a sigh of relief. "I owe you my thanks, Kratos."

Kratos withdrew his wings and nodded. "It's lucky I was on my way back. I took care of the Desians; they won't bother us on the way out."

"That's something to be thankful for, then," Pierce said. He then turned his attention to the stone door, which was surrounded on either side by torches set into the wall. "Now, how do you suppose we open this?"

"Hm…" Kratos ran his hand down the stone door, looking for an opening. "It doesn't appear to be on hinges. Presumably it slides open, but I can't see a switch anywhere around."

Spiritua eyed the torches. The stone behind them was stained black, which means they were probably often lit. It was possible that if there was a switch to open the doors, you couldn't see it when it was dark. "Light the torches," she said.

Kratos and Pierce glanced back at her, and then Kratos shrugged and started charging up a spell. A few second later, he said, "Fireball." Three balls of fire shot out toward the door. The middle one fizzled out uselessly against the stone, but the other two hit the torches and lit them. As soon as they lit, the floor rumbled and the thick stone door ground open.

Pierce raised an eyebrow and looked between the door and the torches. "Now how does that even work?"

"It doesn't matter," Kratos said, walking into the next room. Once in, he stopped in the middle and sighed. "And it looks like we have another door to open."

Spiritua followed him in, and found a small stone chamber with another closed door at the other end. In the middle of the chamber were five windmills in different colours. In the middle was a large blue one, surrounded by smaller ones in red, green, yellow, and white. There were no torches in here to light, so Spirit could only assume that the windmills had something to do with the door.

"We most likely need to spin the windmills in the correct order," Kratos said. "Though what that order could be, I have no idea. We'll just have to try different permutations until the door opens."

"Hang on," Pierce said, rubbing his chin and eyeing the windmills. "I think I know this one." Kratos and Spirit looked at him in surprise. "The colours of the windmills match up to an old legend. The ruby is the hand of the gods, the emerald is the power, pearl is the calm earth, and topaz is the rich earth. Then the blue one in the middle represents the body of the blue wind princess."

"I've never heard of this before," Kratos said. Spiritua nodded, sharing Kratos' confusion.

Pierce walked to the red windmill and tried moving it with his hands. "The first king to be buried here was Cleo III, who is a lot more popular in Cleopolica than elsewhere. The old legends are still fairly well-known."

"Very well," Kratos said, "but does it tell you the order to spin the windmills?"

"Actually, it does," Pierce said. "The verse goes on and says that the power flows from the left hand to the… right foot," he pointed to the yellow windmill. "And then the right hand to the left foot," he pointed to the green one and then the white one, "and ending with the blue wind princess in the middle." With a grunt he pushed the red windmill into motion, and it began spinning.

Kratos was standing close to the yellow once and so gave it a push. He was stronger so it didn't take as much effort to get it to move. Pierce walked over and spun the green one, and Spirit took care of the white one. The windmill didn't want to move and was caked in dust, but after a few seconds of pushing with all her strength, it slipped out of place and began spinning. Kratos and Pierce took one side each of the big blue one and pushed in opposite directions. Seconds later, it too was spinning and the far door slid open.

Without a word, the three of them headed up the stairs and to the roof of the mausoleum. It was misty, and Spirit had trouble seeing beyond the edges of the roof. What she could see, though, was a large rectangular rooftop of white stone, with pillars on either end. Near one end was an altar just like the one at the Tower of Mana. She didn't need to be told to approach the altar. As she walked up to the construction, she wondered what creature they would have to fight this time.

* * *

The two Desians wandered down the aisles, looking quite bored. Rowan crouched on the top step, peering around the wall. He needed to distract these two, but rushing in and fighting would be suicidal and that wouldn't help anybody. He would need to be more cautious if he wanted to kill these guys.

As quietly as he could, he crept out of the stairwell and approached the nearest aisle. He hid at the end of one, waiting for the Desians to come around the corner. He took slow breaths, trying to be as silent as he could. He could hear footsteps coming down the aisle – any second now they'd turn around the corner where he was hiding…

Rowan sprung from concealment and lashed out with one of his rings. The Desians shouted in alarm, although the one who got a spiky ring through his chest shouted just a bit louder. The second one was quick to draw his sword, but Rowan didn't want to get into a proper fight when he only had one good arm. Instead he took off running, heading straight for the far end of the library and not entirely sure where he was going to go from there. The enraged Desian was hot on his tail, so when he reached the end he did the only thing he could and turned right, heading down the back aisle.

He discovered that it was difficult to run at full speed when one painful arm in a sling kept thumping on his chest and the other was trying to carry a heavy metal ring that he didn't dare put away. Conversely, the Desian behind him was in peak condition and fuelled by the rage of his comrade's death. All in all, this meant that Rowan's chances of staying ahead of him were slim. He pushed forward though, ignoring all his complaining limbs that tried to explain that he was still recovering and really shouldn't be pushing himself.

He rounded the next corner, but rather then turning down the next aisle he skipped it and went to the one after that, hoping to throw the Desian off. Rather than continuing the chase here, he grabbed the side of the bookshelf and pulled himself up. He scrambled up the side, climbing as fast as he could. He was rather stop-and-go, because he had to pull himself up with one arm, catch his balance, and then reach up and grab the next shelf. Eventually he made it to the top though, just in time to see the Desian nearing the end of the aisle on the other side.

He reached to the shelf just below him and grabbed as many books as he could. There were only three of them left, but they were thick and heavy. The Desian spotted him crouching on top of the bookshelf and immediately began climbing as well. Rowan was ready for this, though. He ran to the other end up the shelf where the Desian was climbing and chucked the first book at him. It hit the Desian in the head and knocked him off the shelf. Here Rowan reached down to the shelves on this end and gathered more books, until he had an arsenal of about six to chuck at the Desian.

The Desian rubbed his head and glared up at Rowan. "Throw all the books you want, kid. You've got six tries and then you're dead."

"That gives me six tries to break your nose with one of these things. You should thank me if I do – it will probably be an improvement." He didn't want to comment on the fact that the Desian was completely right. Once he was out of books to throw, he wasn't really sure what his plan would be. He hadn't started out with this plan either, though, so hopefully something else would come to him.

Unfortunately, six books went by a lot faster than he thought they would. It didn't help that the Desian dodged a couple of them, forcing him to use more than one book for each attempt of the Desian to scale the bookshelf. Finally he was down to his last book, and the Desian grinned at him from the ground. Rowan hadn't even broken his nose yet, and with the helmet he couldn't even do damage to his skull. He would have to make this last book count.

He hefted the heavy tome, wishing he had two hands to lift it with. He'd be able to throw much more accurately and strongly if he didn't have to do everything one-handed. Breaking his arm was really inconvenient. Rowan had never been a terribly religious person, but he said a little prayer to Origin before throwing the book with all his might.

He missed. Rowan swore and reached for his ring off his belt. It wasn't the ideal weapon for this position, but it would be better than nothing. The Desian didn't seem to be terribly threatened and began climbing again.

"Don't even try it," Rowan said, brandishing his ring. "Or I'll skewer your throat."

In response, the Desian clung to the shelf with one hand and with the other pulled out his sword. In one quick movement he thrust his sword upward and caught the ring right through the middle. He twisted it to the side, wrenching it from Rowan's grasp. It skittered uselessly across the floor.

He scrambled on his belt for the second one, but the Desian climbed another shelf higher and slashed with his sword again. This time the target wasn't just Rowan's weapon. Rowan flinched, trying to prepare for the sword to strike him, but then it whished uselessly passed him as the Desian let out a strangled yelp. In a few seconds, Rowan took in the fact that the Desian now had a knife sticking out of his calf and Shea was standing at the end of the aisle, out of breath and angry. Then he smashed his leg out, kicking the Desian in the face with a satisfying _crack_! The Desian landed in a heap on the floor, blood streaming from his now broken nose.

With a grin, Rowan climbed down from the shelf and snatched his ring off the floor. "What do you know, I was right," he said, looking down at the Desian. "A broken nose _is_ an improvement." With one quick slash, he killed the Desian.

He pulled the knife out of the Desian's leg and walked down the aisle to where Shea was standing. "Here. Thanks."

She nodded and sheathed the blade. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. No trouble."

Shea raised an eyebrow. "You almost got killed"

"Yeah, but I didn't. So there's no trouble."

Shea looked around at the empty bookshelves and Desian body at the end of the aisle. "We shouldn't hang around here. More Desians might show up if these guys don't return. Let's go back to the boat."

"Yeah, ok."

They crossed the floor and left the library without another word. It wasn't until they were approaching the dock that Shea said, "I didn't want you to get hurt trying to protect me. I told you to get yourself out."

"I know. But I couldn't just leave you there. They would have found you."

"It was my choice to stay."

"Yeah, but I'm not the kind of guy who can just let someone get themselves killed, even if it was their stupid decision."

They reached the boat and Rowan hopped over onto the deck before holding out a hand to Shea. She took his hand and climbed onto the boat after him. "Well… thanks. I do appreciate the effort."

* * *

The mausoleum rumbled as a burst of light erupted from the altar. Kratos already had his sword drawn, ready for whatever Cruxis was going to throw at them. To his surprise, the form that burst forth amidst the light was long and serpentine. Kratos had been expected a wind-aligned beast, and a snake was about as far away from the sky as one could get without heading underground. The snake was about thirty feet long and several feet in diameter at its widest point, and when it was fully out he understood the connection to the wind. It bared its long fangs and hissed at the three humans gathered below, feathers flaring around its face while massive feathery wings stretched out from its sides.

"Huh," Pierce said, eyes glued to the massive snake. "I must say we never covered this eventuality in basic training."

The snake wasn't a cobra, but it could certainly strike with the speed of one. Kratos leapt to the side just as the snake's tail lashed out at him. Immediately afterwards it took to the air, flapping its wings so hard Kratos could feet the air pushing down the spikes of his hair. Once in the sky, it made a beeline for Pierce. Its fangs glistened in the sun as it dove straight towards him. Pierce locked his eyes with the snake and stood his ground, readying his sword to impale it with its own momentum. Kratos took a second to check that Spiritua was still safe from where she stood near the pillars by the altar, and then took the air as well.

Pierce's game of chicken with a giant snake ended with him leaping aside at the last second, while managing to slash the side of its face with his sword. He hit the ground and rolled while the snake hissed loudly in agitation. Blood ran down from its face under its eye, staining the rainbow feathers bright red. The whole mausoleum rumbled when it hit the ground again.

Kratos flew in from above, intent on driving his sword down through the top of its head. When he was right above, though, the snake's head snapped in his direction and a giant wing whipped around and batted him away like a fly. He tumbled through the air for a couple seconds before righting himself in time to see the snake, airborne once again, heading for Spiritua.

From the steps of the altar, she raised her bow, bit her lip, and shot an arrow straight into the snake's right eye. This sudden blinding threw it into confusion and it veered away, crashing into a pillar. Cracks ran up and down its length, and the snake's forked tongue shot in and out of its mouth.

Pierce ran towards it, but Kratos stopped and landed. Magic would be helpful against this beast. He began to summon up his mana, watching out of the corner of his eye as Pierce threw himself onto the snake's back, stabbing it all the way. The serpent was having none of this, and thrashed around erratically. Pierce had to stop stabbing in order to focus all his energy on holding on and not being thrown right off the roof. He dropped his sword and it hit the ground with a clang.

"Thunder Blade!" The giant sword sunk through the creature's back, sending shockwaves through its wings. It thrashed even harder than before, and Pierce finally lost his grip and fell hard to the floor. Blood splattered across the white stone roof as its injured tail whipped back and forth, and when its head snapped in his direction again, Kratos realized that in the meantime, Spiritua had taken out its other eye.

Blinded, in pain, and enraged, the snake took off, flying straight into the air. Kratos took off after it, closely followed by Spiritua. Pierce was still slowly getting to his feet after his hard fall, but he wasn't going to be able to help much right now anyway. Kratos caught up to the snake and focused on its wing. If he could cripple it, they'd have a huge advantage. It was hard to get close enough, though, because the snake writhed through the air and the wings were constantly moving. He cut his sword through the air and only managed to trim a few feathers.

He saw Spiritua flying straight for its head, and shouted, "Chosen, be careful!"

She ignored him and circled its head, coming down from above. Kratos found himself directly under the wing for one moment, and took the chance to fight as hard as he could against the down draft. He smashed upwards shouting, "Sonic Thrust!", and drove his weapon right through the wing. The snake let out a loud hiss and then its tailed curved around and whipped him in the gut, flinging him back down to the mausoleum.

He crashed into the same pillar the snake had hit earlier, and this second blow caused the whole thing to crumble. Kratos grunted as a pile of stones rained down on top of him. Up above, he saw Spiritua riding the snake like a velocidragon, holding on with only her knees as she shot an arrow straight into its skull. Three more times she shot, each one accompanied by a burst of light that told him she was using an arte. Finally, with an injured wing, a bloodied tail, and four arrows in its head, the serpent spiralled down out of the sky.

A shadow fell across the roof, Pierce looked up and said, "Oh, crap," and then Pierce found himself on the ground once again, this time underneath a feathery wing. The snake wasn't quite dead yet, though. It twitched and hissed and licked the air, trying to get up again. Pierce pushed the wing out of the way, strode up the head, and with one solid blow he slice its head clean off. The wings slumped to the side, the tail stopped twitching, and its tongue fell silent.

Kratos brushed pillar debris off of his white shirt and sheathed his sword. They had come out of that pretty well, all things said. Pierce and Kratos were a bit battered but nothing serious, and the Chosen was entirely unscathed.

"Chosen," he said, "come say your prayer at the altar."

Spiritua kept her back to him and held up one figure as she went up to the snake's head to retrieve her arrows. Kratos had to admire how diligent she was about retrieving them when she could. He'd known too many beginner archers during the war who seemed to think their arrow supply was unlimited.

She yanked the third one out of the back of the snake's head, and in an instant its jaws snapped open and its fang sank into Spiritua's arm. She immediately jumped back, clutching her bloodied arm. The snake's head snapped at the air while Spiritua scrambled backwards. Kratos and Pierce both darted in her direction. Pierce reached the snake first and stood between Spiritua and the serpent, as if daring it to move closer. The snake snapped at the air a couple more times and then fell still. They waited a long moment, and then Pierce gingerly reached out with his sword and poked it, immediately drawing back just in case. His hesitation hadn't been needed, though, as it seemed the snake was truly and properly dead this time.

"Damn," Pierce said. "I've heard stories about snakes being able to bite even after their heads are cut off, but I didn't know there was any truth to it."

Kratos was more concerned about Spiritua, though. She had fallen to her knees and clutched her arm, breathing heavily. Kratos crouched next to her and reached out for her arm. She held it tight against herself, but he said, "I need to see your wound."

She took another shuddering breath and slowly held out her arm. The sleeve was ripped and stained in blood, as well as splattered with a clear liquid. Kratos frowned deeply. The clear liquid was most likely venom. He glanced at the snake. A snake that size probably delivered quite a bit of venom in a bite. Spirit needed a doctor, and luckily they had one down on the dock. But first they needed her to break the seal.

Kratos pulled one of the belts off of his chest. He had plenty to spare, and used this one he used as a makeshift tourniquet. He needed to keep the venom from getting to her heart for as long as possible. "Can you stand?"

She nodded and he helped her to her wobbly feet. Pierce looked on with worried eyes as Kratos led Spirit to the altar. He had one hand on her elbow and the other around her shoulders, making sure she didn't fall. While standing there, she bowed her head and silently prayed. Kratos could feel her body shaking, but she kept herself standing as light glowed above them and slowly descended in the form of Yuan.

"Hello, Chosen, and Kratos," Yuan said. "You've done well in reaching this-"

"Cut to the chase, Yuan," Kratos snapped. "Can't you see she's hurt?"

Yuan's eyes went wide when he took stock of the way Spirit was wobbling where she stood. "Oh crap." As fast as he could, so the words nearly flowed together in one long word, he said, "Receive-this-blessing-from-Cruxis!" He threw an orb of light toward her like her was throwing a ball, then said, "I _will_ see you at the next seal. Kratos, don't you dare let her die or Ygg-"

"I know." He pulled out his wings and lifted Spiritua, cradling her in his arms. "It will be faster if I fly. Meet us at the boat."

Pierce nodded. "Hurry."

Kratos took off.

* * *

Lloyd heard the door to the hotel room open and he quickly looked around in a panic. There had to be some way to hide the evidence of his crime in the two seconds it would take Kratos to enter the room. Unfortunatly for him, he spent those two seconds in a panic and a solution did not come to him.

"Lloyd… what is that?"

Lloyd looked down at the bowl on the bed in front of him. "Uh… celery sticks?"

Kratos sighed wearily. "Why are you eating ice cream at eleven at night?"

"Well…" He looked mournfully at the bowl of cold, chocolaty goodness in front of him. Kratos didn't understand the fact that it was _always_ a good time for ice cream. "I found this 'room service' thing, and it's where you just press a button and food will just come to you! And it's very cool and it felt like a huge shame to not take advantage of it…"

"You already had dessert at supper, as well as all that cotton candy in the afternoon."

"But none of it was _room service_ dessert! This is special!"

Kratos has an expression on his face that Lloyd was quite familiar with from his other father. It could roughly be translated to "dear goddess what did I ever do in a past life to deserve this fate?". All he said, though, was, "Go to sleep, Lloyd."

* * *

Rowan heard a familiar chirp and looked up to see Noishe land on the edge of the open hatch above him. "Kratos and the others must not be far behind," he said.

Shea didn't look up from the piece of paper she was writing on and said, "Great." She was stretched out on one of the bench seats below decks, concentrating on a project.

Rowan looked back at her. "What are you writing, anyway?"

"I'm jotting down everything I remember from the library so I don't forget."

There was a thump as Kratos landed on the deck. "Shea!" he shouted.

"Kratos is calling you."

She was already getting up. "I heard, thanks."

Rowan climbed up out of the hold with Shea close behind, but as soon as he stood on the deck, he froze. Draped in Kratos' arms was Spirit, unconscious, blood covering her arm. "What happened." It wasn't a question. It was a statement that if Kratos didn't give him information on what happened to his little sister _right now_, even more blood was going to be spilled.

Shea pushed right past Rowan with her eyebrows knit in a frown. "What injured her?"

"Snake bite," Kratos said, ignoring Rowan. Rowan was only tolerating this because Shea was a doctor, and thus she was the only one allowed right now to be closer to Spirit.

Shea's eyes went wide as she inspected Spirit's eyes. "That must have been a damn big snake."

"Yes. I believe it was venomous. Can you heal her?"

She tore her eyes off of Spirit to meet Kratos' gaze. "Describe the snake."

"It was about thirty feet long, green, with rainbow feathers around its head and colourful wings."

"That's… not a normal snake," Shea said. "But, I do know that this island is home to bright green venomous snakes, so it's possible what you saw was a beefed up version of one of those. I have a large variety of antivenoms in my bag. Lay her down downstairs and I'll see if I have it."

Rowan wrung his hands uselessly as he watched Kratos carry Spirit below decks. He followed, but there was really nothing he could do. There was a single small cabin with below decks, and Kratos laid her out on the cot. Her face was pale and clammy, and Rowan wasn't sure what was from the snake bite and what was from her angel sickness.

Next to her, Shea rolled out a long swath of fabric with slots of a hundred different vials, each labelled in tiny writing. She ran her finger across them, eyes darting back and forth. She noticed him looking and explain as she went, "Different snakes all have different antivenoms. I carry the antivenom here for almost every toxic creature in the region, just in case. Snakes, grasshoppers, spiders, whatever. And, here it is!" She pulled a small glass vial out of her case and looked at the clear liquid inside. "Perfect."

Rowan watched her work with fascination. It seemed impossible that just a little vial filled with what looked like water could be the one thing that could save Spiritua's life. It also gave him a new perspective on just how much work Shea had cut out for her if she wanted to find one magical remedy that could take the place of all those different little vials.

Shea pulled a needle out of her bag and put the antivenom in. Then she just as easily slipped the needle into Spirit's arm and applied the medicine. "There," she said. "She's going to be fine."

Rowan sighed in relief. When she was done, she exchanged her vials for the materials she needed to tend to the bite itself. Rowan sat cross-legged on the floor while she worked, wishing there was something he could do to help. He had a feeling that trying to help would just be getting in Shea's way, though, so he sat back and fretted.

When she was done, Shea packed up her stuff and stood up. "All done here. We should leave her alone to sleep."

Rowan walked to Spirit's side and looked down at her. "Are you sure it's ok to leave her alone? What if she wakes up and needs something?"

Shea rolled her eyes. "She's fine, Rowan. Other than the venom, the bite wasn't that bad."

"But what if-"

She took a couple steps toward him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Rowan, she's _fine_. Now stop hovering over her and let her rest."

Once they climbed back onto the deck, there was nothing to do but wait for Pierce to catch up with them. Shea went over to talk to Kratos while Rowan resumed his seat at the stern of the boat. Really, it didn't make sense to ditch the boat as soon as they got to mainland. They could take it down the coast and bypass the mountains completely. It would be safer, too, because they wouldn't have to worry about bandits and roaming monsters.

Lost in thought, Rowan hadn't noticed Shea wander back to him and throw herself down on the seat. She stared miserably at the water and said, "I hate boats. They just don't stop _moving_."

Rowan smirked. Well, Shea wouldn't like that idea at least. Speaking of Shea, there was something on his mind. "Hey, Shea, I'm not trying to pry, but-"

"There's a ninety-eight percent chance that anyone starting a sentence that way intends to pry."

"Uh…"

She tore her gaze from the water and grinned. "Nah, go ahead."

"Well, I can't help but think that your interest in poison seems… a bit more fanatical than normal. I mean, you carry all those antivenoms with you, and you risked your life to get the info from that book."

Shea's grin slipped away, and Rowan immediately felt bad for bringing up a subject that was obviously painful for her. "If you don't want to take about it, it's ok."

"No, it's alright," she said. "You're right. My interest in poisons and venoms is not merely academic. It's… my mom. I was crossing the desert with her when I was little, and she got stung by a scorpion. That's when I met master Boltzman. He found us on the edge of the desert, my mom collapsed, me trying to get her to stand up again…. But like I said, there was nothing he could do. He didn't have time to create the right antidote. My mom died, and Master Boltzman took me in." She stared out at the water with sad eyes.

Rowan frowned, then said, "It sucks."

"Huh?"

"Having a parent die. I know how it feels, and it sucks."

Shea sighed. "Yeah. It does. So, I know it's paranoid to carry around all those antivenoms, but I refuse to let someone die because I didn't pack the right cures. So I pack all of them."

"I'm not complaining – you just saved Spirit's life."

"Rowan!" Kratos shouted, "prepare the ship to leave. Hurry."

"What's wrong?" He jumped up, and spotted Pierce in the distance, running down the streets of the city toward them.

"If Captain Asgard is running, I assume that means he's being pursued. There are likely Desians not far behind. I'd like to be able to depart as soon as he reaches us."

"Right." With no more time to spare, they prepared to disembark.


	20. Making a Splash

**Chapter Twenty: Making a Splash**

The wind was in their favour as the boat raced back to the mainland. But since the Desians were headed in the same direction, it was in their favour, too. The Desians' also had a newer, more streamlined ship, so even though Kratos and company had gotten a head start, the Desians on their tail were gaining.

Shea looked worriedly between the distant shore ahead and the not-so-distant enemy behind them. "Are we going to make it?"

Kratos eyed the shore. They were making good speed, but the Desians were making even better speed. "I don't think so. We'll probably have to fight. Rowan," he turned his attention to the boy sitting at the stern, "do you have any experience with naval fighting?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said. "With all the armed and dangerous fish we were encountering every day."

Kratos stared at him for a second.

"No."

"Very well. As long as the Chosen is out of commission, our only ranged weapons are my magic. We'll have to hope the Desians are similarly unarmed."

"Well," Rowan leaned over the back and shaded his eyes. "It doesn't look like they have any canons… although one guy is standing at the prow and waving his arms about. Looks like he might be casting magic."

"Damn," Kratos muttered. He walked to the stern and followed Rowan's gaze. With his better eyesight he was able to see the reddish glow of fire magic. They were probably going to try and burn the sails. Just as he thought that, three balls of fire shot out of the Desians' hands and streaked towards the sails. Kratos leapt into the air and shouted, "Guardian!" A shimmering green orb appeared around him, and he placed himself between the fireballs and the sails so that the fire bounced harmlessly off of his shield.

The Desian spellcaster was already charging up another one, though. Below him, the ship was moving on without him. He couldn't fly backwards, so keeping up blocking every single missile would be difficult. And even if he did, that would only keep them going long enough for the Desians to catch up and board them. He could fly over there and kill them all, but in the time it took for him to fly over there and kill them, one of them could easily let off a Fireball and burn the ship.

He landed. "We're not going to make it to the shore," he said to Pierce, Rowan, Shea, and Noishe.

Pierce frowned. "Do you have a plan?"

"I'm working on one. I think we may have to abandon ship."

"And go where?" Shea asked. "There are no lifeboats and we're in the middle of the ocean."

"For certain definitions of 'ocean'," Rowan said. "I mean, you can see the shore in both directions. It's just a strait."

"Shut up, Rowan."

"Does everyone know how to swim?" Kratos.

"Passably," Shea said.

Pierce nodded, but added, "It may difficult while wearing armour."

Noishe chirped to say that no, he couldn't anymore, but Kratos wasn't terribly worried about Noishe in this situation.

"Rowan," Shea said, "you can't swim with your arm in a sling."

"I can swim with one arm."

"You can?"

He shrugged. "Sure. I mean, I've swum holding things before so I don't have to use both arms all the time. I'm a really strong swimmer. But Spirit can't while she's sick," Rowan added. "She's still unconscious."

"I realize that. What we're going to do is turn the ship sideways to block their view and then you three are going to jump overboard. We're close enough to shore that you'll be able to make it. I'm going to fly and carry the Chosen. Captain Asgard, I will take your armour so that you can swim. If you keep your heads down and try to swim mostly underwater, the Desians won't notice you and will hopefully keep following the boat."

"Alright," Rowan said. "Everyone gather your things and then I'll turn the boat."

Five minutes later, Kratos was loaded down with wearing Pierce's chainmail and breastplate over his own outfit, as well as carrying everyone's bags slung over his shoulders and Spiritua draped in his arms. He was glad he had angel strength to carry it all. Rowan pulled on some ropes and the sail swung around, causing the boat to veer steeply to the left. Shea clutched the railing to keep her balance and Kratos nearly fell over with all his load.

They were perpendicular to the Desian ship now. "I will rendezvous with you on the shore," Kratos said. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Desians were quickly gaining on them. "Jump now, and good luck."

The three of them leapt over the side of the ship, and Kratos took to the sky, flying straight up to the concealment of the clouds.

* * *

A bright light struck Lloyd across the face as Kratos pulled the curtains open. "Get up, Lloyd."

Lloyd's only response was to moan unintelligibly and pull the covers over his face.

"Lloyd it's almost ten o'clock. Get up; we need to set out before lunch if we have any hope of making decent progress today."

Lloyd moaned again and buried his face deeper into the pillow. Kratos grabbed the blanket and pulled. Lloyd tried to pull it back but Kratos easily wrested it away from him.

"Lloyd, this is ridiculous. You're seventeen; you can't just sleep away the rest of your life."

"Go 'way," he grumbled. "Don't feel good."

Kratos sighed. "Don't try that Lloyd. We're leaving today and that's final. We've wasted enough time in Altamira as it is."

"I wanna throw up."

"Get out of bed. _Now_."

The last word was just the right intonation to cut through the haze of Lloyd's mind the exact same way that a sabre-toothed cat's growl might have done to his distant ancestors. Lloyd rolled over and carefully pried his eyes open. Kratos' eyes were cold and his whole face quite clearly communicated that he was not in the mood to joke around.

"Dad… I really don't feel good." His stomach was doing flips like it was trying out for a gymnastics team, poorly, and his head throbbed a steady warning that staying horizontal was probably in his best interest.

"Is that so? Regal has arranged chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate sauce for breakfast."

Lloyd's stomach heaved at the mere thought of that. He closed his eyes and turned his head away. "No…"

"Huh. I guess you really are sick."

Lloyd nodded weakly.

"I _told_ you not to eat so much junk yesterday."

"Yes, Dad."

"I always distinctly recall having this exact same conversation with you when you were three. Good to see you haven't matured at all in fourteen years."

"Yes, Dad."

Kratos sighed heavy and pulled the covers back around Lloyd. "Fine, we'll leave tomorrow. Get some rest. Do you want to hear the story?"

"What about the others?"

"We're leaving tomorrow. They wouldn't have heard the rest of it anyway."

"Ok. Thanks, Dad."

"I'm still mad at you, you know."

"Yes, Dad." Lloyd had a sneaking feeling that every time he used the word 'Dad' Kratos' anger subsided slightly. Kratos looked pretty annoyed, so he'd be sure to use it as often as possible today.

* * *

Kratos flew over the coast, scanning the beach below. He had headed straight to shore from the boat and assumed the others would have swum that way too. It was, after all, the shortest distance. He didn't see them, though, and was starting to get worried. Had they not made it? Perhaps they'd drowned…

Not that it really _mattered_, of course, because he had the Chosen safe so he didn't exactly _need_ the others but… well… Quite simply, he didn't want them to die.

They couldn't have drowned. He flew a bit lower, eyes scanning the sand below. He must have missed them… And then he noticed something, and would have slapped his forehead had his arms not been full of Chosen. The waves weren't hitting the shore straight on. They came at it at a slight angle before pulling back directly. The entire ocean was slightly shifted, moving left with every wave. They may have swum straight, but the current would have dragged them south, forcing them to swim diagonally towards shore. If he was going to find them, he'd need to search much further south down the coast.

He headed south, peering ahead. The Hakonesia Mountains loomed in the distance, and after a few minutes of flying, he finally spotted them. Three small figures in the distance, huddled on the beach.

When he landed, Rowan jumped up. "Is Spirit ok?"

It was Shea who answered. "She's fine, you moron. You're the one who needs fresh bandages."

Kratos nodded. "Yes, she is fine." He set down everyone's belongings and said, "But I'd like to get away from the coast. If the Desians come by in their boat, I would prefer not to be visible from the sea."

Pierce pointed to trees growing about a hundred yards away. "That's our best bet of shelter. I think we should camp for the night once we reach the trees. It has been a very busy day."

"I agree." They grabbed their things and set off, and reached a good camp site in the trees about ten minutes later.

After laying Spiritua out on a blanket, Kratos sat down next to Pierce. Rowan and Shea were bickering about something while she replaced his now-soaking-wet bandages. "Did you have any problems with the swim?" Kratos asked.

"Nothing serious," Pierce said. "It was tiring, but we managed. Rowan cannot swim one-armed nearly as well as he made himself out to, but he's a strong enough swimmer that even at half his capacity he more than kept up."

"I didn't think he could," Kratos said. "I think it was quite obvious he was trying to show off."

"Do you think he realizes how transparent his attempts at flirting and showing off are?"

"Probably not."

"Kratos."

Kratos nearly jumped at the sudden voice behind him, and both he and Pierce were already reaching for their swords as they both spun around. "Yuan! Can you please _not_ do that?"

"Sorry. I want to talk to you."

Kratos sighed. "What about?"

Yuan glanced at Pierce. "It's private. I wanted to talk to you after the seal but you were, well, preoccupied. How is the Chosen, by the way? Did you take care of her?"

"She's fine," Kratos said as he stood up. "Excuse me, Captain, I'll just be a moment."

He followed Yuan a fair distance from the campsite before speaking. "What is this about?"

"The same thing our last talk was about. You keep killing Desians."

"They keep getting in my way."

"When you had split up from the others in the Mausoleum? You could have just told them who you were and told them to back off and they would have."

"Killing them was easier. It was the only way to ensure they wouldn't attempt to harm Captain Asgard or the Chosen."

"They wouldn't have hurt the Chosen if you told them who she was. The human… yeah, I give you that. Don't get mad at me, Kratos; I'm on your side. I'm just saying, Mithos doesn't think that killing a handful of Desians in order to protect a human is justified."

"I'm not worried about what Mithos thinks of me."

Yuan leaned against a tree and crossed his arms. "Well, maybe you should be. He's not the same anymore, Kratos."

Kratos pictured the light-hearted boy he'd known a hundred years ago compared with the determined ruler he was now. Yuan didn't need to point out the obvious. "I realize that."

"I don't think you do. He's almost… man, I can't believe I'm saying this about _Mithos_… he's almost scary. When he gets angry, I mean. And he is _pissed_ at you right now. And this is on top of the fact that he tried a test run of the machinery he plans to use to transfer Martel's soul and it didn't work properly."

Kratos frowned. "I thought he had that all worked out?"

Yuan shrugged. "He thought he did. He did a test run with a couple angels the other day, though, and it blew up in his face. Literally. The Cruxis Crystal exploded, followed by the angel, followed by the machine itself. Quite a mess; I'm glad I didn't have to clean it up."

Kratos had stopped trying to picture the scenario after the 'angel exploded' part, and nodded slightly in agreement. "And he wants to put Spiritua in that thing?"

"I'm sure he'll fix it by the time you're done breaking the seals." Yuan's mouth curved into a sly smile at that point. "Why do you care?"

"I would hate to see Martel's vessel explode after all the work I put into preparing her."

"Uh-huh, I'm sure that's the only reason."

Kratos crossed his arms. "And just what are you implying?"

"You like her, don't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't," Yuan said with a smug grin. "You like her, and want to protect her for more reasons than simply that she's the Chosen."

Kratos frowned, but Yuan had known him for over a hundred years so lying to him was pretty pointless. "She's a good kid. Certainly more tolerable than her brother."

"You're not going to get cold feet about leading her to her death, are you?"

Kratos fixed Yuan with a cold stare. "No."

"So… have you told her about that part of the journey yet?"

And then the stare wavered. "…No."

"Ah. So she still thinks she's going home at the end of all this?"

"I believe so."

"And when are you going to tell her the truth?"

"Soon." He really didn't want to though. He told himself this was because if Rowan found out, he'd make the rest of the trip hell. But he couldn't deny that part of it was him not wanting to burden with Spiritua with that knowledge. Every time he looked at her, he saw a sweet young girl so innocently optimistic and he just couldn't bring himself to tell her that she was marching to her death. He might be an angel, but that didn't mean he didn't still have human emotions.

"Well, get on that. And if… nah, I know you - _when_ you kill more Desians needlessly, be prepared for some serious flak from Mithos."

"Thanks for the warning."

"Just be careful. I'll see you later, Kratos." Yuan unfolded his wings and took off, while Kratos walked back to the campsite.

"So what did he want?" Rowan asked.

"It is none of your concern," Kratos said as he sat down.

Rowan rolled his eyes. "Fine, be all secretive. I do have another question, though. What was that shiny green thing you used to stop the fireballs earlier?"

"That was a defensive arte known as Guardian. There are many varieties of it depending on your fighting style."

"Could I learn it?"

"No. You need an Exsphere to be able to use artes."

Rowan raised his hand slightly. "Well, I've got an Exsphere. See?"

Kratos frowned. "Actually… I'm not certain if that would work or not. Your Key Crest was applied after the Exsphere, so I don't know if it enables you to access its power or if all it does is hold back the negative effects."

"Tell me what to do and I'll try."

Kratos sighed. It would actually be convenient if Rowan could do this. He'd be able to protect himself much better, and so Kratos wouldn't have to worry about him as much. "Very well. Remind me to also instruct the Chosen once she's well."

Rowan jumped up with an excited grin. "Alright, let's do this."

"Right now?"

"Why wait?"

Kratos slowly got to his feet. "If you insist. Move back so you don't hurt Shea."

"I wasn't going to…" he grumbled while walking a few feet away from the group.

Kratos stood before him and said, "Hold your weapon as if you were fighting me."

"Oh that won't be hard to pretend," Rowan said, gripping his ring with a grin.

Kratos ignored this comment and then said, "Now, it helps to move your weapon into a defensive position. Once you've done that, you need to concentrate on your body's mana. You've never used an arte before and I'm not even sure that you are physically capable of doing so, but try it. I believe the version associated with your fighting style is 'Damage Guard.'"

Rowan nodded and squeezed his eyes shut while bowing his head. His forehead wrinkled with deep concentration. After thirty seconds of this, Kratos was about to tell him to give up when Rowan quietly said, "D-Damage Guard," and a flicker of green appeared in a sphere around Rowan. So it did work. He'd need to show Rowan how to use artes, then.

Rowan raised his head and opened his eyes and the shield faded away. "So? Did it work?"

Kratos nodded. "It would appear you are capable of accessing your mana. It will probably take some practice to get to full strength, but if you are diligent it could vastly improve your fighting abilities."

Rowan laughed. "Ha! Alright! Will I be able to shoot fireballs now?"

"No."

"Dammit."

* * *

There had been a knock on the door, and when Kratos opened it, Colette rushed past him and hurried to Lloyd's side. "Lloyd, Lloyd! I heard you were sick, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Colette." He actually felt like crap, but he didn't want to worry her.

"Can I get you anything?"

"No, it's ok. I'm not really hungry. Dad was just telling me the story."

"Oh. What did I miss?"

While Lloyd summed up what Kratos had said this morning, Kratos walked back over to the chair he'd been sitting in. Meanwhile, Colette sat down on the edge of Lloyd's bed, eventually pulling her legs up and getting comfortable.

When he was done, she said, "Oh, well, at least we can spend another day here now. Although… you can't really enjoy it if you're sick. I'm sorry, I hope you feel better soon. It's not serious, is it?"

Kratos cut in at this point to say, "No, he's going to be perfectly fine by this evening. There is no reason for hysteria."

"Oh, ok," she said, nodding. "But I want to stay with him, ok?"

"If you must."

"So, Dad," Lloyd said, hoping to turn the conversation away from his illness. "What happened next?"

* * *

"We headed to the mountains. Shea had brought a map and knew which route to take through them. It took about a day to reach the foothills, and then we headed up. After our rather hectic first few weeks of travel, it was nice to have over a week of journeying that didn't include a fight to the death."

The sun was high in the sky and it was a sunny spring afternoon. Rowan was thankful that the hardest part of getting through the mountains was over, meaning they were walking downhill now. It was a good thing they had Shea to lead the way, though, because there wasn't a very clear trail for them to follow. Frequently they found themselves stepping over tree roots and walking around bushes in order to move forward. They were on a trail again now, though. By now, Rowan could look back and see the high peaks looming over him again, since they were almost out of the mountains. It was kind of weird to think that he had been way up there not too long ago. Considering he'd spent his entire life at a sea level of about zero, being on a mountain top had been quite the interesting experience. His ears were still popping.

It hadn't been an entirely eventless week of travel. Whenever they stopped for the night Rowan practiced using Damage Guard and he was no capable of doing it at will, and after Kratos had shown Spiritua how do use magic she quickly picked up on a technique called Angel Feathers. They were just lucky that they hadn't run into anybody to use it on.

"We're almost out," Shea said. "We just have to cross this bridge and then it's only a few more hills before we're out in the meadow."

"A bridge?" Pierce asked. "How many people use this trail? Is it well maintained?"

Shea shrugged. "It's about seventy-five years old, I think… It's kind of rotting, but I've used it several times in the past without any trouble."

They rounded a curve in the trail and the bridge came into view. The old wooden bridge didn't look very strong, Rowan took comfort in the fact that it was only a few feet above the river. Of course, the river was currently flowing very fast and very cold with melting snow, meaning that even though falling through the bridge wouldn't be fatal, it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.

Shea marched on ahead while the others hung back a bit, eyeing the bridge with trepidation. There was just something discouraging about the way it was missing a few planks and was so old and rotted that even termites had given up on it. She stopped in the middle and looked back at the others. "Come on, what are you guys waiting for? There's a little inn not too far ahead where we can stop and rest and have a decent meal."

If it was safe enough for Shea, Rowan was going to take his chances. Kratos decided he'd rather fly across, although Spiritua evidently chose to stay land-bound even after giving it a dubious look. Rowan took a few hesitant steps onto the ancient planks, wincing as they creaked and groaned and whined more than curmudgeonly old man with arthritis. But also just like curmudgeonly old men, the bridge didn't seem to be too thrilled to have people disturbing it and using it for its intended purpose. In fact, it wanted them to just cross it and be done with it so badly that when Shea stood in one place for too long, the plank she was standing on snapped right in two and sent her plunging into the icy river.

It happened so fast she didn't even have time to shout. Her head bobbed up on the other side of the bridge, gasping for breath. She wasn't nearly a strong enough swimmer to fight the swift current and by the time Rowan was able to process what had happened and lean on the railing calling her name, she was already out of reach.

Spirit reacted faster, taking off over the river like one of her arrows. She raced after Shea while Pierce shouted, "Rowan, don't linger on the bridge!"

Rowan snapped to his senses and hurried across, stepping near the edges of the planks so as not to put his weight on the weaker middle section. When he reached the far side, he shaded his eyes and peered downstream, but both Shea and Spiritua were out of sight. "We should follow them…"

Pierce crossed the bridge, slowly and carefully like Rowan had. It creaked quite a few times, but thankfully he reached the other side dry. "It would be pointless," he said. "There's no way we can catch up to them; the bank on this side is too overgrown to traverse with ease."

"I hate just standing here," he said. He was about to complain more when he saw a flash of dark blue and Spirit came flying towards them. He was rather alarmed to see that Shea was not with her. "Spirit!" he said as soon as she landed. The front of her purple dress was soaked but she otherwise seemed ok. "Where's Shea? Is she-?"

"Fine," Spirit said. In a slow and deliberate voice, she said, "I managed to pull her out of the river. She's banged up from the rocks and doesn't want to try coming all the way back here. She says she's closer to the inn where she is now, so I am going to fly back to her and accompany her. We will meet you there later."

"I'm going with you," Kratos said. "My job is to protect you."

"I assume finding the inn is just a matter of following this trail?" Pierce asked, glancing down the path ahead of them.

Spirit nodded. Her wings appeared again, she gave Rowan and smile, and then she took off, closely followed by Kratos. This left Rowan and Pierce to set off down the trail.


	21. Dove's Rest

**Chapter Twenty-One: Dove's Rest**

A trail of smoke curled through the pine trees up ahead. They were pretty much out of the mountains now, coming down the last big hill. The dirt trail was bordered on both sides by tall yellow grass and low bushes, broken up by chunks of boulders. To their right was a steep sloping hill, where the grass waving in the breeze glinted as if it had been turned to gold. To their left, stiff bushes growing almost vertically separated them from an almost ninety-degree drop. The tops of pine trees were about eye-level beyond the bushes, and it was through these trees that smoke from a chimney reached up to the sky.

"We must be nearing the inn Shea mentioned," Pierce said, eyes on the smoke.

"Thank Origin," Rowan said. "My feet are killing me. I can't wait to lie down in a proper bed."

"Me as well, especially considering I have to go back through the mountains right away."

"What? Why?"

"Shea came with you to guide you through the mountains. I came with you to keep an eye on her. Now that you've made it through the mountains, I don't know if I can justify continuing to follow you. Cleopolica needs me, and Shea still hasn't served her sentence in jail yet."

Rowan frowned. "You know, Shea's really not that bad. She only stole because she was trying to help people."

"Yes, I am aware of her circumstances."

"But you still want to throw her in jail just because she was doing her best to help poor people? It's not fair!"

Pierce sighed. "It's more complicated than that, Rowan. I can't go making exceptions for law-breakers just because they happen to be otherwise nice people."

Rowan scowled. "Why not? The law is there to protect good people and punish bad people. So you shouldn't be punishing the good people – that goes against the whole thing!"

Pierce shook his head. "No, it's more complicated than that, I'm afraid. You can't just sort the entire population into 'good' or 'bad'. Humans, half-elves, dwarfs… no one is born inherently good or inherently evil, so it's not as simple as picking out the good people and letting them get away with whatever they need to do. And if I did pardon Shea based on the fact that she is otherwise helpful, it would establish a precedent that I have the ultimate say over justice in Cleopolica, which is not the case."

"But you're the captain of the guard. It's in your job description that you're in charge." This whole thing seemed overly complex to Rowan. He took a moment to fantasize about being the captain of the guard in Luin, and how much simpler he'd be about things. The jerks who pissed him off and made life miserable for the rest of the town would be punished, and the good people – like his family and the people he worked with – wouldn't have to worry anymore.

"No, no, no," Pierce said. "I'm not in charge of justice, I'm in charge of _upholding_ justice. I don't make the laws and I don't decide who deserves to be held accountable for their actions and who gets a free pass. That is far too much power for one man. So I let a girl off for stealing because she really needs it. What's next? Letting a murderer off because the victim might have deserved it?"

Rowan kicked a pebble and watched it skitter along the path before falling off the side. "That's different."

"No, it's not. It's just a different extreme of the same principle.

Rowan didn't really know what to say to that. He guessed he could understand where Pierce was coming from, but it still didn't seem right to punish Shea for helping people. In order to change the subject away from something that was confusing and frustrating, he said, "You know, Ferris told me before we left that he'd heard people talking about renaming the city after you."

Pierce turned his head to give Rowan a strange look. "After me? What?"

"Yup. Apparently they want to call it Asgardpolica or something."

Pierce shook his head in mild confusion. "That's an awful name for a city."

"I agree. Kind of a mouthful. They should shorten it, call it just…" he waved his hands through the air in front of his face, "Asgard. Short. Simple."

"That's even worse!"

Rowan laughed. "Yeah, they'll probably just stick to Cleopolica."

The path they were walking down finally levelled out, revealing a small wooden inn set against the cliff they had been walking down. A hand-painted sign above the front door proclaimed it to be the Dove's Rest Inn, accompanied by a small painting of a little white bird. There was a live white bird perched on the sign, but this one was splotched with green and chirped loudly when it saw them.

"Looks like the others made it here fine," Pierce said.

Rowan wasted no time in striding through the front door. Inside, there was a long wooden counter immediately across from him and the space in front of it was filled with a handful of tables and chairs. To the right of the counter was a staircase leading up to the rooms, and to the left was another door. Most importantly, sitting at one of the tables by a window was Spirit, Shea, and Kratos.

"Hey, you made it," Shea said when they approached. Spirit said much the same thing with her eyes.

"I trust you had no complications?" Kratos said.

"No, pretty easy walk," Pierce said. He pulled a chair over from the next table over. The table they were sitting it at four chairs, but Shea was using a second one to rest her leg. She had bandages wrapped around her calf, stained red where blood had seeped through. "And you?"

"No trouble," Kratos said. "The route was a bit uneven, but quick enough."

"I lost my bag," Shea said glumly. She rested her chin in her hand and scowled at the wooden table. "All my gels, all my supplies, all my antidotes… everything."

Rowan tried to pat her shoulder encouragingly, but it didn't seem to help much. "I'm sure you'll be able to replace them."

Pierce looked around the room. "Where are the owners? It seems odd that no one would appear to greet new customers."

"They're busy with some sort of family emergency," Shea said. "The woman asked us to take a seat when we got here and said she'd be back with some water and glasses, then came back with some first aid stuff for me, but I haven't seen her since."

"That was nice of her," Rowan said, sitting down at the next table over. "So we don't have a room for the night or anything yet?"

"No, but there's no rush," Kratos said.

Rowan was about to make another comment when a small girl appeared from behind the counter. She looked to be about six or seven years old, with blonde hair in pigtails and a short blue dress. She marched up to the table and put her hands on her hips, and announced, in the bossy tone of voice six-year-old girls as a whole seemed to have perfected, "My mummy said that you people can help yourself to food in the kitchen, and she'll kill you later."

The group stared at her. "Um…" Shea said.

Pierce raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure your mother said 'kill'?"

The girl shrugged, accompanied by a whining sound that would probably have been "I dunno" if she had bothered to open her mouth. "It was somethin' like that."

Kratos said, "Did she perhaps say 'bill'?"

"Yeah, that." She was slightly irritated, like she couldn't understand why these people were making a big deal between the words 'bill' and 'kill'. "Oh yeah, and there's a bathtub in the back and you guys can use it. And I think you should 'cause you smell bad. Especially you." She pointed one stubby finger at Rowan. "You smell like fish."

Rowan's hand on the table turned into a fist. "Why does _everyone_ feel the need to tell me that?"

Pierce said, "It's probably because you smell like fish."

The little girl crossed her arms and nodded sagely.

Rowan threw his hands in the air and stood up, the chair scraping against the floor as it skidded backwards. "Fine! If everyone is really so offended by how I smell, I guess I'll go take a bath!"

"It's not really you, I think," Shea said. "It's that darn coat you always wear."

"Gee, thanks," Rowan said. "Good to know it's not me who smells, just my clothing."

Shea covered her mouth. "Ah, sorry, I didn't mean to offend you!"

To the others, he said, "I'm going to go find that bath. See you guys later."

* * *

After Rowan left, Kratos and Pierce followed the little girl to the kitchen to get food. Spiritua watched them go, not terribly excited at the prospect. She hadn't eaten anything at all since they'd gone to the Tower of Mana. Kratos said this was part of becoming an angel, and she didn't like it all that much. What was worse, though, was the fact that she hadn't been able to get a single night's sleep since the wind seal. Even though she didn't actually feel sleepy, it was very tiring to never give her mind a chance to rest. She hadn't talked to Rowan about any of this yet, either. She wanted to tell him, and explain what was going on, but there was never a good time. They were always surrounded by the others and she didn't want to talk in front of them. This was a private matter, but she and Rowan never had any time alone. She hadn't even talked to Kratos about the sleeping thing yet, but since he never pressured her to try and sleep when he saw her lying awake at night, she assumed he knew.

"Hey, Spiritua," Shea said. "Thanks. I probably would have drowned if you hadn't pulled me out."

Spiritua just smiled and nodded her head a bit.

"And how's your snakebite doing? Is it clearing up?"

She nodded again. The wound hadn't bothered her at all in the past few days. She was really glad Shea had joined their group. It was good to have a doctor around. At the same time, though, she couldn't help but feel a bit of resentment towards her. There was a reason she hadn't had a chance to talk to Rowan, and that reason was Shea. He was always trying to talk to her or impress her or just generally be with her, and it felt like Spirit had been put on the back burner for now. She knew it was silly to be jealous, that Rowan had his own life to live and couldn't pay attention to her all the time, but she had never had to share him with anyone before and she wasn't sure she liked it.

Kratos and Pierce returned with bread, meat, and cheese to make sandwiches. While the other three dug in, Spiritua sat in the corner and tried not to look at the food. It smelled really good, too. Instead she looked out the window, watching the leaves on the trees play in the breeze.

"You're not eating, Spiritua?" Shea asked. "You know, I never see you eat. It's not healthy to skip so many meals."

Spiritua stared at Shea, hands clenched on her lap. She didn't want to talk about this, but she didn't know how to avoid it now that it had been directly brought up. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. Desperately, she looked to Kratos for help.

"Angels do not require food as often as regular humans," Kratos said. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Oh. Well, ok. I still think you should eat something at least every now and then, though…"

The front door opened and Rowan came stomping in, water running down his head and soaking the neckline of his shirt. "Hey, you started eating without-"

_Slam!_ A young woman burst through the back door. "How can you be content to just _sit here_, Father?" she screamed to the back room. Her hand holding the door open was shaking and her face was red and streaked with tears. Everyone at the table froze, sandwich halfway to her mouth in Shea's case.

Only then did the woman notice them. Her face slacked for a moment, and then a stiff smile pried open her mouth. "O-Oh. I'm sorry. I was going to get you water…"

"It's quite alright…" Pierce said.

Rowan, still standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, dripping wet, said, "Uh… are you ok?"

The woman rubbed her eyes and leaned against the counter for support. "N-no, I'm not. My son… my son is gone…"

"Where did he go?" Rowan asked.

It wasn't the woman who answered, but an older man who came out the door after her. He had greying hair and a tired face, but most distinctly were his long, pointed ears that stuck out from the sides of his head. Spiritua knew it was rude to stare, but she had never seen an elf in real life before. "My grandson was taken by Desians."

"I'm very sorry to hear that," Pierce said.

Rowan, though, cocked his head to the side. "But… you're an elf. Desians go after humans, not elves."

"There is time to talk later, when you are not dripping a puddle all over my floor," the old man said. "Please, allow me to set you up with rooms for the night."

The old elf, whose name turned out to be Benedict, gave them keys for two rooms on the second storey. The room Spirit was sharing with Shea was small, with barely space for two beds and a little end table between them. When they returned to the main entrance, they found the boys sitting with Benedict. Rowan had been given a towel finally, so he had traded soaking wet hair sticking to his head for damp hair standing up in a mess.

"Greetings," Benedict said. "I have been told that you are the Chosen of Mana."

Spiritua was a bit started at suddenly being addressed and looked over at the guys, wondering which one brought it up. Probably Pierce, she deduced. Rowan still wasn't keen on the whole Chosen deal and Kratos seemed much more likely to try and stay secretive. She met Benedict's eyes again and nodded slowly while taking a seat next to Shea.

"So are you a believer in Martel, then?" Shea asked.

"Hm…" Benedict said, stroking his beard. "I suppose I am still undecided on that. I have too many questions and not enough satisfactory answers."

"What questions?" Spirit asked. She was as certain in her faith as a fish was sure it preferred a lake to a desert. She wasn't one for idle chitchat, but if she could help someone embrace the goddess, then that was a discussion worth having.

Benedict smiled at her. "Ones I don't think you can answer, my dear."

Spiritua frowned. She knew the teachings of Martel back to front; if she couldn't answer them, no one in Sylvarant could. But he didn't seem to want to talk about Martelism right now, so she didn't push the issue.

"I am curious," Pierce said. "How did an elf come to run an inn in Sylvarant? I was under the impression that all the elves were in Tethe'alla."

To this Benedict gave a grim smile. "Ah. Well, you are mostly correct. I, however, happened to be traveling at the time when the war ended. One minute I was travelling back to my home in Heimdall, and the next the earth rumbled and shook and I discovered that my country was no longer there."

Spiritua listened with rapt attention. She had never met anyone who was old enough to remember the separating of the worlds. The mystery of the disappearing landmass had plagued a generation of scholars, but still nobody could quite figure out where Tethe'alla had disappeared to. The leading theory was 'the moon' but even that was just a guess.

"After it finally sunk in that there was no way for me to return to my home, I settled down here and built this inn with my wife, a human woman I met in Sylvarant."

"I'm still confused," Rowan said. "So, your kids and your grandkids are half-elves then, right? Then why would Desians capture your grandson? They're on the same side."

Benedict sighed. "My grandson – Isaac – is vehemently against the Desians. A group of Desians passed through this morning. They were already in a bitter mood about something – I believe I heard them mention something about their ranch falling and barely escaping – so when Isaac got in their faces about how they were giving half-elves a bad name and it was their fault humans hated them, they said he obviously didn't appreciate all the good Desians were doing for half-elves. They dragged him off with the intention of forceful recruitment."

Spirit looked down at her hands. In a way, they were responsible for this. The Desians wouldn't have even come if they hadn't taken down the Cleopolica ranch. And yet, she couldn't wish that they hadn't done that. Even if it would mean this boy wouldn't be in danger, all those hundreds of other people would still need to be saved. As regrettable as it was, the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, and sometimes sacrifices had to be made. But… that didn't mean she had to let it just happen.

She looked up and said, "Where did they take him?"

Benedict gave her an appraising look, and then said, "They headed east. There is a port on a small harbour on the east coast where they can take a boat to the ranch in the Iselia Forest."

Spiritua nodded. "Don't worry. We're going to get him back."

At this announcement, the rest of the group shot their heads in her direction. She returned their incredulous stares with an even and determined one of her own.

"We're going to _what_?" Rowan was the first to speak. "Spirit, I know it's sad and all, but we can't go around saving every single person we find in danger. I'm sorry, but it's just not possible."

"I have to agree with Rowan," Kratos said, with an expression that clearly added his distaste at needing to say that. To Benedict he said, "I'm very sorry for your loss, sir, but we are on a mission too important to risk taking detours."

"I understand," Benedict said. "I wouldn't wish strangers to get hurt fixing my family's troubles. I see your group has some things to work out, though, so I shall go see to my daughter." Once the elf had left the table, the arguing could truly begin.

"Spiritua is right," Pierce said. "The only reason the Desians came here and were in such a foul mood in the first place was because of our actions. We are indirectly responsible for the boy's fate."

"The _Desians_ are the only ones responsible," Kratos said. "The best thing we can do right now is continue on our journey and regenerate the world, ridding Sylvarant of them."

"But if we don't interfere, the boy will be a Desian himself at that point. If we leave him there and then regenerate the world, he would be sealed away with them and we would be responsible for his fate a second time." Pierce banged his fist on the table, making the silverware rattle.

Spiritua watched the argument with interest, though to be honest she didn't much care what consensus they reached. She was going to rescue Isaac, and the others could accompany her if they wanted to.

"Be logical," Shea said. "How do you expect to rescue him? You're proposing going up against an entire troop of Desians – and however many more there are at this port – with just the five of us."

"We successfully infiltrated and took down the Cleopolica ranch with just three of us," Pierce said.

"To be fair," Rowan said, "we had a bunch of us on the inside, and the pirates. So it really wasn't just the three of you."

"Exactly!" Shea said. "Thank you, Rowan. You're going to get yourself killed, and then you can't regenerate the world."

"Rowan," Spiritua said. He looked over and she met his eyes. "I'm going." They held a stare-off for almost half a minute. The rest of the group waited, unsure if something was going to happen.

Finally, Rowan flicked his eyes away and sighed wearily. "You idiot," he grumbled. "We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Rowan!" Shea said. "Don't cave so easily!"

"I'm not!" he said. "I still think it's a dumb idea. But trust me, she's going to go whether we agree or not. We can either sit back and protest the stupidity of this, or follow along and make sure she doesn't die."

Spiritua smiled at him. At least someone got it.

Kratos sighed. "This is a waste of time and energy. But if this is truly what you wish to do, Chosen, than I will do my best to protect you."

"Well, guys," Shea said, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to sit this one out. I'm still sore from getting banged around in the river, and I'm not too keen on fighting in the first place. I'm going to stay here and see if I can work on replacing my gel supplies."

"Alright," Kratos said. "Then as Rowan suggested, we'll leave tomorrow morning."

Spirit was glad the others were going with her. Even if she would have done it on her own, it was nice to know she would have backup.

Once that was settled, the group scattered. Kratos and Pierce left to discuss the matter with Benedict while Shea went in search of his daughter, who was named Mary, to discuss where she could acquire the ingredients she needed to make gels. This left Rowan and Spiritua sitting across the table from each other.

"Why are you so determined to do this?" Rowan asked. He seemed an equal mix between frustrated with her stubbornness and honestly confused.

Spirit shrugged. It was hard to put into words exactly why she felt this way. "Because… it's the right thing to do."

"You're going to get yourself hurt if you keep insisting on helping everybody you see."

"I rescued you. Would you rather I hadn't?"

Rowan scowled. "That's… different. I'm your brother."

"Isaac is somebody's brother, too."

"Well… yeah, but he's not _yours_. All I'm saying is, you can't take responsibility for everyone. Or else you'll drive yourself crazy worrying about everyone in the world even if it's not actually your problem."

Rowan didn't really get it. Since Kratos had told her that she was the Chosen, that was pretty much how she felt all the time. She was the one destined to save Sylvarant and regenerate the world, so in a way, everyone's suffering _was_ her responsibility because she was the only one who could put an end to it. What she said, though, was, "If it were me kidnapped, you wouldn't hesitate to barge in stupidly."

"I told you, that's different," he rolled his eyes like this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But it's not," she said. "Isaac and I are both just people. I'm not worth any more than he is."

Without hesitation, he said, "You are to me. Dad told me to look after you, and I'll be damned if I let anything happen to you."

"Rowan…" she looked down at her hands. "Actually, there's something I need to tell you about becoming an angel."

Rowan frowned. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

She shook her head. "Probably not." And so she told him everything about becoming an angel. As she had predicted, he didn't like it. He looked alarmed when she explained that she could no longer eat and absolutely outraged upon learning that she couldn't sleep.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?"

"There wasn't a good time to talk," she said.

"Bullshit. You could have talked to me any time! Why were you hiding this from me?"

"I never tried to hide it." She felt a twinge of resentment. She had truly never put any effort in hiding it from Rowan. If he had been paying attention to her instead of Shea, he would have realized something was up and if he had directly asked her about it, she wouldn't have lied. Maybe that was part of the reason she hadn't brought it up before: she wanted to see how long it took him to notice.

Rowan calmed down. He seemed to pick up on the unsaid part of that sentence. "Spirit… you know I care about you. I'm just trying to make sure you're ok. So, in the future, tell me if something is wrong right away, ok?"

She nodded. "Ok. Maybe now is the time I should tell you that since becoming an angel, I've acquired a rare form of wing cancer."

"What?"

She grinned. "Kidding."

Rowan's face was still frozen in shock-mode. "That's not funny."

"It is a little bit."

"…Ok, maybe just a bit."

* * *

Lloyd woke up the morning after his illness feeling immeasurably better. His stomach had come to the realization that it was not, in fact, an Olympic gymnast and could settle down and stop flipping around all the time, and the throbbing in his head had turned down from 'almost constant' to 'pretty much non-existent'.

He yawned and rolled over in bed, seriously debating whether or not today was a sleep to noon day. Then it hit him that today they were leaving Altamira and it was his last chance to see his friends before heading out. Only five minutes after that realization, he was up and dressed and out the door. He burst into the hallway with such vigour that he crashed into a maid carrying a room service tray to another room. She fell over and the tray went flying through the air before hitting the ground with a loud _crash!_ Jelly-side-down toast stuck to the carpet, an orange slowly rolled down the hall, and a newspaper absorbed spilled cranberry juice, blurring the text.

"I'm sorry!" Lloyd said, jumping up and offering the maid his hand. "I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there!"

"Obviously," the maid said while brushing crumbs off her dress.

"Here, let me help you clean that up," he said, reaching for the soggy newspaper.

She snatched it out of his hand. "I think you've helped quite enough, young man."

"Ah… sorry." The maid busied herself with cleaning up the hall while Lloyd sheepishly made his way to the elevator. While he was standing at the end of the hall watching the little lights change as the elevator sped upwards to him, he was able to think about the newspaper he'd seen. Thinking back, he was almost positive he'd seen his name mentioned, but the text was so blurred with cranberry juice it had been impossible to make anything else out.

He considering going back and asking to see it again when the doors slid open with a ding. "Oh, hey, Lloyd," Sheena said, smiling. "Kratos just sent me to wake you up. The others are all down in the lobby to see you guys off."

"Oh. We're leaving already?" He stepped into the elevator with Sheena and began the journey down. "I thought we wouldn't leaving until this afternoon.

Sheena fumbled for words. "W-well yeah, that was the original plan but… Kratos decided he wanted to get out of the city as soon as possible. Because you guys are already behind schedule, so…"

"Oh." It wasn't much in the way of responses, but it was all he could think of to say. Sheena bit her lip and watched the numbers light up with such purposeful nonchalance it circled back around to chalance. Was that even a word? Lloyd was pretty sure it wasn't. He creased his brow and rubbed his chin, simultaneously wishing Genis were here so he could ask and glad he wasn't so he wouldn't mock.

He was concentrating so hard on what the opposite of nonchalance might be that the dinging of the elevator doors opening caught him by surprise.

"Here we are!" Sheena said. As they walked across the lobby, Lloyd noticed a stack of newspapers on the main desk, which reminded him of his encounter upstairs.

"Oh, hey, did you see the paper this morning? I thought I saw my name mentioned but I didn't have time to look closer at the headline."

Sheena's eyes went wide. "What? No. I didn't. Don't worry about it."

Something was up. Lloyd had never gotten good grades from the Professor for logical deduction, but even he could tell something wasn't quite right. "Sheena…"

"Good morning, Lloyd!" Colette said in her usual chipper voice when he met up with her and Kratos. "Do you feel ok today?"

"Yeah, I feel great," Lloyd said, casting his worries aside for the moment. To Kratos he said, "Do we really have to leave so soon, Dad?"

"Yes," Kratos said. "We've wasted enough time here already."

Lloyd slumped his shoulders. "Fine…"

"Regal was too busy at work," Colette said, "but Zelos and Presea are coming to say goodbye."

As if on cue, the front doors to the hotel opened and the pair of them strode in. "Good morning," Presea said politely when she reached them.

"Good here at least," Zelos said. "But man, did you guys see what happened in Palmacosta?"

Immediately, Kratos and Sheena whirled on and Sheena yelled, "Zelos!"

"What?" he said. "I was just trying to talk about current events! You're the one who's always saying I need to stop being so self-centered!"

"Hold on," Lloyd said, his worry levels rising back up at an alarming pace. "What happened in Palmacosta?"

"Er…" Sheena said, avoiding eye contact.

Colette looked about as confused as Lloyd. "Is something wrong?"

Presea was the one to answer. "The protesting in Palmacosta ended up giving way to violence. Raine has been apprehended as an instigator."

"What!" Lloyd could hardly believe what he was hearing and so rushed to the front desk to grab a copy of the newspaper. He read the headline on his way back to the group. _Riot in Palmacosta: Half-Elf Companion of the Hero Lloyd Suspect_. Below that was an artists' rendition of Raine, the artistic level of which was almost as good as Lloyd's wanted posters. "What is this?" he demanded of his friends. "Why would the suspect the _Professor_?"

Zelos shrugged. "She was probably the only half-elf at the scene and half-elves make good scapegoats."

Sheena glared at him.

Zelos held up his hands in defense. "Don't look at me, I'm just quoting popular opinion!"

"And you guys weren't going to tell me about this?"

Sheena looked guilty, but Kratos just said, "There's nothing you can do about the situation. It would only distract you."

"You mean you knew I would demand we go to Palmacosta right now and put this right."

"…Yes. But we're not going."

"Like hell we're not!" Lloyd knew the paper itself hadn't been the one to offend him, but in this case he didn't care if he shot the messenger. Or in this case, crumple it up into a ball and throw it on the floor. "Professor Sage is in trouble. We have to help her!"

"I'd like to go too," Colette said. "We need to help our friends!" Unfortunately, Colette's days of being the final decider thanks to her title of Chosen were long past.

"Lloyd, I need to get to the Tower of Salvation as soon as possible," Kratos said. "We don't have time for a sojourn to Palmacosta."

"Well, then I'll have to take a branch out of Spiritua's book and go on my own and you can come with me if you want."

"Leaf," Presea said. "You mean leaf."

"Yeah, exactly!" Lloyd said. "I'm going to leave!"

Presea looked confused. "That's not what I… never mind."

"Lloyd," Kratos growled in frustration.

Lloyd planted his feet and crossed his arms.

Kratos buried his face in his palm. "Alright! Have it your way. Those Exspheres don't actually need to be taken to space. I can do that whenever."

Lloyd felt only a tiny flicker of guilt at that, but it was quickly smothered by his overwhelming resolve to go to Palmacosta and make sure Raine and Genis were ok.

"If you're going to Palmacosta," Sheena said, "then I'm going too. I was considering heading over there myself after you guys left."

"Let's all go!" Zelos said. "We can make it an adventure."

Kratos just looked more and more irritated by the second.

"I shall ask Regal if he has time to accompany us," Presea said. "I am sure he would like to come if he can fit it into his schedule."

"We're getting this done with as quickly as possible," Kratos said.

"I know," Lloyd said seriously. He had been trying to go as slow as possible for the first part of their trip, but know that the Professor might be in danger, he wanted to get there as quickly as they could.


	22. The Rescue Mission

**Chapter Twenty-Two: The Rescue Mission **

The port town wasn't very big. In fact, it probably couldn't properly be called a town. Based on the number of houses clustered around the dock, 'village' or even 'hamlet' would be more apt. The largest structure was the lighthouse, and the second largest wasn't even a building, being the ship currently docked. From where they watched from the hill overlooking the port, the lines of Desians carrying supplies onto the ship resembled little rows of ants carrying the loot from a picnic into their hill.

But even in a place this small, finding one boy would be a challenge.

"It would probably be best if we split up," Kratos said, scanning his eyes across the streets. "We can search faster if we break into groups of two. And remember, we're trying to attempt this with as little action as possible. Do try not to draw attention to yourselves." This last part was directed at Rowan, mostly. Pierce was a trained soldier who knew what he was doing and Spiritua seemed to made avoiding attention into an art form.

"Yeah, alright," Rowan said. "I'm going with Spirit."

"You will not," Kratos said. "The Chosen is going with me."

"But-"

"No."

Rowan looked about to argue, but wisely thought better of it. Kratos didn't even want to be here, and the last thing he was going to put up with was a smart-mouthed brat arguing that he knew best. To Pierce, Kratos said, "The Chosen and I will search the south side of town. You and Rowan search the north. We'll meet back here in an hour."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement and they set off. There was only one road into town, but once it reached the first outskirts of simple wooden buildings, the dirt road split into two branches and the group separated likewise. Kratos led the way, trying to stay in the shadows without _looking_ like he was trying to stay in the shadows. It was a delicate balance. It was being overly cautious at this point, though, since they were the only ones on the road. The port was predominately populated by humans, but the Desians were using it for now and so all the residents were hiding indoors.

As they got closer to the docks, more people appeared on the street. The Desians were busy preparing for the ship's departure, though, so they didn't pay much attention to the pair of them. A couple times Kratos noticed a Desian giving him a sideways glance, but Kratos glared back with more confidence than someone sneaking about ought to have, and so they were paid no heed.

There were a lot of buildings here, but Kratos had no idea where the boy might be held. He tried to listen for any calls for help, but with the ruckus of Desians loading their ship nearby it was too hard to hear anything.

"Should we search every building?" Spiritua asked.

Kratos contemplated the warehouse they stood in front of. Down by the docks, most buildings were storage of some sort. The boy could be any of them, and they were all very large and very full of crates. Then he looked towards the ocean, where the flurry of activity around the ship was a bit less than it had been before. They were almost ready to set sail, within half an hour. He looked through the grimy window in the brick warehouse beside them. Peering through, he calculated that it would take at least half an hour to search every nook and cranny of this building, and if the kid wasn't in here, they wouldn't have nearly enough time to search all the others. If that ship took off, there was nothing they could do to rescue the boy. Kratos wasn't overly concerned about the boy himself, but if they failed it could damage moral for the rest of the group, particularly Spiritua.

"We have to stop that ship from setting sail," he said.

Spiritua eyed the ship and then the warehouse, and then followed the same train of thought that Kratos had. She nodded.

How, though? If he got Spiritua to wait behind, he could march into the ship, announce his identity, and order them to stop It was risky though. If any of the group caught on that he had authority over Desians, their trust in Cruxis would plummet and completing the regeneration would become incredibly difficult.

"Burn it," Spiritua said.

Kratos raised an eyebrow. "Burn what? The entire ship?"

She nodded. "You have fireballs. Burn the ship down."

"Well, that is certainly a direct way of going about it."

Spiritua pondered the ship, biting her lip on thought. After a long minute of thinking, she declared, "Ships have extra sails. Set fire to the pantry."

"Why the pantry?"

"Flour is explosive. Blow it into a cloud."

Kratos was somewhat disturbed that this sweet little girl was talking so matter-of-factly about blowing up a ship, and he decided against asking her how she knew how to make an explosion out of household baking ingredients. But, she did have a point. If the sails burned they had extra and just lighting a fire would be easy to put out. Causing an actual explosion would cause much more damage. "I'm going to have to sneak aboard the ship to do this. It will be dangerous, and I'd like you to stay behind."

Spiritua nodded, and then pointed to the roof of the warehouse to indicate that she'd hide and wait up there.

"I'll come fetch you when I'm done. Stay out of sight."

She didn't need to be told twice, and quickly flew to the roof of the warehouse. With her safely out of the way, Kratos made his way to the ship. Now that he was alone, the issue of dealing with Desians became much simpler.

"Hey, you!" a Desian shouted as soon as he set foot on the dock. "Who the hell are you?" He drew his sword. "Think you can just stroll in here, you damned inferior being?"

"Stand aside," he said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm Kratos Aurion, on a routine inspection for Lord Yggdrasill."

The Desian nearly dropped his sword and his turned to what can only be described as the look someone gives upon realizing they've just cursed and insulted one of the most powerful beings in the world. There's really no comparison for that. After that, Kratos had no trouble walking onto the ship. Desians parted for him on the gangway, as the whispered news of his arrival had travelled up the dock faster than he could walk. Part of him wished the Chosen knew about Cruxis' connection with the Desians, because this would make everything a whole lot simpler.

He asked a Desian to direct him to the food storage room, and though the Desian in question seemed very confused about why he'd need to go there, he got the directions. A few minutes later he was grabbing a sack of flour and flinging it to the floor. The bag burst and huge cloud of flour filled the room. Kratos checked that a hatch leading to the top was already open and ready for him to evacuate as soon as possible, and then he unleashed a fireball.

He made a beeline for the exit as soon as he unleashed it, and was in the air above the ship flying towards the clouds when he heard the explosion. He looked down to see a fireball escaping from the same hatch he had used, while the entire ship sloshed in the water from the force of the explosion. Fire would be spread through the decks right about now, and Kratos felt very pleased with himself.

* * *

In the present, however, Kratos was very much _not_ pleased. Lloyd noticed this immediately when they left Altamira. Kratos told the story mostly to pass time and perhaps partly to keep Lloyd from making any other annoying comments, but while he spoke he couldn't keep his displeased scowl off his face. Kratos did not want to go to Palmacosta, and he had no problems showing it.

The rest of the group was in much higher spirits. Even Regal had decided to come, as working out the problems in Palmacosta was important for his business. Lloyd had just gotten used to seeing Regal in a business suit when he had decided to go back to his old clothes for travelling cross-country again. With the exception of Genis and Raine, the whole group was back together again. There weren't enough Rheairds for all of them, so they were forced to walk. For once Lloyd actually wished they could hurry. Walking meant Kratos would be stuck here longer, but Raine and Genis might be in trouble so getting to Palmacosta quickly was important. Rather than crossing the mountains again, they were heading north to Izoold, to find a boat to take them to Palmacosta.

* * *

The Desian slumped against the alley wall, possibly unconscious, likely dead.

"That was awesome," Rowan said, watching Pierce in awe. A Desian had seen them sneaking through the alley, and then before he could even raise an alarm, Pierce had snapped his neck around with a sickening crunch.

"It wasn't 'awesome'," Pierce said. "It was practical yet very unpleasant."

"Can you teach me how to kill Desians with my bare hands?"

"No."

"Why not? It seems like a damn useful skill."

"Firstly because it is, as I said, highly unpleasant and I have no interest in teaching a boy how to do this. Second, it takes two hands and by the time your arm is out of that sling I'll be gone."

"Actually, it's almost fully healed." He wiggled his arm and only felt a few dull shots of pain. "I'll probably be just fine in a couple days."

Pierce furrowed his brow. "That's impossible. A broken arm should take at least six weeks to heal."

Rowan shrugged. "Maybe it's because of my Exsphere?"

"That could be…" Pierce didn't seem entirely satisfied with this explanation, but there were more important things to deal with so he brushed it off. "I'm going to steal this Desian's uniform," he said. "By impersonating a Desian I should be able to ask around and find the boy's location."

"Why can't I be the Desian?"

"Because this uniform is in my size, not yours, and you'd stand out like a little kid wearing his father's clothes; now shush."

Rowan pouted a bit while Pierce quickly threw the Desian clothing on over his own clothes. When he was done, he said, "Wait here. I'll come back and get you when I find out where Isaac is."

"Right." Rowan had a sneaking suspicion that he wouldn't. Pierce would probably just head off and find the kid himself so he wouldn't have to worry about Rowan screwing up or something. Rowan glared at his back when he walked away, wishing for anyone in their group other than Spirit to give him some respect and not act like he was a stupid kid. He was nineteen; that made him basically an adult and he wanted to be treated like one. As soon as Pierce was out of view, he started moving again. Wouldn't the others feel foolish when he showed up, having rescued Isaac all by himself. Maybe then Kratos would stop looking at him like a potato would make a better travelling companion.

He left the alley and wandered down the street. If he was a Desian, where would he lock a kid up? Probably in a small room near the ship. He'd need to get closer to the dock, and then look for a building that might have a good, windowless, locked room. He couldn't pass as a Desian, so he tried to avoid notice by staying to the edges of streets where he was partly hidden by the shadows.

He was about to turn around a corner when he heard a voice say, "Holy cow, what happened to your hand?"

"That stupid brat _bit_ me? Can you believe it? He's supposed to be a half-elf, not some animalistic human!"

"What the hell? What were you doing?"

"Nothing! Just giving him food so he wouldn't starve to death! Obviously he's never heard that you're not supposed to bite the hand that feeds you."

"The sooner we get to Iselia, the better. I won't blame you for not wanting to go anywhere near that shed again."

Rowan grinned. Perfect, the kid was in a shed. _Pierce_ probably hadn't figured this out by now, and he's the one who wanted to be here in the first place! Rowan waited for the Desians to walk by, and then slipped around the corner and kept his eyes peeled for a shed. This was going to be easier than he thought it would be! He passed a T-intersection and looked down the new street. He was very close to the ocean now – he could taste salt in the air and the cool ocean breeze made him shiver a bit. More importantly, though, was the fact that down the street and on the left was a tin shed with a padlock across the door. With a grin, he marched towards it.

His handy fishhook was still in his pocket, so he wasted no time in picking the lock. It wasn't that hard to pick, actually. He felt rather smug about the fact that Desians' locks sucked. The padlock fell away and he pulled the chain from between the door handles. The door was old and it took some effort and not a small amount of noise to slide it open.

"Hey," he said as he walked in. "Anyone here?"

"What do you want?" The answering voice wavered, and Rowan turned his head around to see a boy sitting in the dirt, leaning against the tin wall.

"You're Isaac, right?"

The boy nodded once. "What do you care?"

"Great. I'm here to rescue you. Let's go."

"What? Wait – you're not a Desian?"

Rowan was slightly offended that he could even be mistaken for a Desian. "Hell no. Now c'mon, it's going to take all night to walk back to your grandpa's inn, so let's get going."

Isaac jumped to his feet, wobbling slightly from the imbalance that having his hands tied caused. Without waiting for him to catch up, Rowan strode back to the door – where he promptly came face to face with a Desian.

There was no time to say 'oh shit', though it was racing through his head. The next thing he knew, a fist collided with his face and he stumbled and fell backwards. The Desian said, "I thought I heard the door opening. Enjoy your trip to Iselia." Then the shed door slammed shut again and the sound of the padlock clicking shut echoed in the small metal room.

Silence reigned in the room for about five seconds. Then, "That was the worst rescue I have ever seen."

"Shut up," Rowan groaned, pressing his hand to his cheek. He might wind up with a black eye after that punch. On his feet again, he surveyed the room. It was very dark and hard to make out much more of Isaac than an outline. There were no other exits and he'd had enough trouble prying the door open when it _wasn't_ chained shut. Still, he tried kicking it. He didn't really think it would work, and as expected it did nothing but hurt his foot. The loud _clang!_ echoed through the room. He wasn't going to take this. There had to be a way out. He drew his ring and hit the door with all his might, hoping to be able to pierce the metal and hoping that even if he could, that it would do something.

If ordinary attacking didn't help, maybe he could use the artes he'd been experimenting with in the mountains. He stood back, took a deep breath and drew upon his internal mana, and shouted, "Ray Thrust!" The ring flew forward with more force than he'd ever be able to muster on his hand and smashed into the door. It shook, but then the ring dropped to the ground and the door was just as solidly closed. "Dammit!"

A muffled explosion rattled the shed. It sounded not too far away, but Rowan was too focused on his own fury to pay it much heed.

He'd already tried kicking it, but that didn't stop him from doing it again. His foot slammed into the door over and over until his foot ached, but he wasn't about to give up. He wasn't just going to sit here and wait for the Desians to ship him off to Iselia. He'd already done the whole ranch thing and wasn't keen on going to another one. He used his kicks to punctuate his shouts of frustration. "Origin – damn – it! Open – the –hell – _up_!"

"Stop it," Isaac said. "You're just making things worse."

"_I'm_ making things worse?" Rowan whirled around and wished Isaac could see his face because he was sure it was incredibly threatening. "It's your fault I'm even in this stupid mess!"

"I'm not the one who asked you to try and rescue me! I was handling this just fine on my own."

"Oh, clearly. You had things totally under control."

"And you did? You just barged right in here, not even trying to be stealthy."

"I'm not the one who got myself kidnapped by Desians!" _This time_, a little voice in the back of his head said. He promptly told that little voice that it could shut the hell up, thank you very much. "This is _your _fault. If you weren't a little kid I'd punch you right now."

"Oh yeah? Try me! I'm not a little kid; I'm fifteen!"

Rowan snorted. "Fifteen? You're the same age as my baby sister. Plus your hands are tied."

"And you've got a broken arm, so I think we're even. And you're just a human."

Something inside Rowan snapped. He'd been annoyed all evening that they were going out of their way for this, and then Pierce ditching him had just frustrated him more, and getting locked in here with the kid pushed him to the breaking point. But then Isaac had brought up race, and everything just came spilling out.

"I'm just a human? You're the one who's _just_ half-elf. You're the one who got himself into this mess. I didn't even _want_ to save you, because I didn't want to get myself killed to save some stinking half-elf who can't take care of himself! I'm only here because my sister insisted, because for some reason she thinks people who are only half human are worth as much as real people!"

For the second time in only five minutes, someone punched him in the face. Isaac had less force behind the blow, but since his hands were tied together it was a two-handed hit. "Shut up!" Isaac shouted. "I am so sick and tired of you stupid humans with your stupid racism and your stupid superiority. Just because my grandpa's an elf doesn't make you better than me!"

He tried to punch Rowan again but this time Rowan was ready. He caught Isaac's wrists and slammed him back against the wall. The wall shook but remained standing. Isaac swung his knee up and Rowan twisted to the side so the knee hit his thigh, and then Rowan hit him across the side of his face. Isaac's leg shot out and tripped him. His busted arm hit the ground and he held back and snarl of pain.

Everything happened so fast. Isaac kicked him in the ribs, and then Rowan dragged Isaac down to the ground with him, and then the boys were rolling in the dirt, punching, kicking, trying to get up before the other, and then they were both lying on their backs, panting, staring at the ceiling. Rowan wasn't sure which one of them had called it off first. All he knew was that he was covered in dirt, sweat, bruises, and a bit of blood from a cut over his eye that he didn't entirely remember receiving.

Most importantly, though, the fire that had fuelled the fight in the first place had burnt up and completely disappeared. Now that the anger had been released, fighting seemed like a pretty stupid idea. They were in this together, and they ought to be putting their energy into beating up Desians, not each other. He groaned. "Sorry."

Isaac mumbled, "Yeah. Me too." At some point in the tussle, his hands had come untied and now his arms were spread to his sides.

They lay in silence. The roof seemed very far away from their place on the floor. After a minute of catching his breath, Rowan said, "…You're not bad, for a kid."

Isaac turned his head the bare minimum required to catch Rowan's eyes. He looked a bit annoyed but then said, "You're not bad, either, for a human."

Rowan snorted in laughter. Then he frowned. "It's not really funny. We're both probably going to die." Since he had first gotten locked in the shed, he had been holding back on his true feelings regarding this subject. He had masked it all under anger for a while, but now all the anger has been exhausted and he had nothing else to hide behind. The truth was, he was scared. He tried not to think too much about his time spent in the ranch, but as he lay there thinking about it, the scars on his back ached. He knew their escape from the Cleopolica Ranch had been incredibly lucky, and if he ended up in Iselia with no Cleopolica military, no Kratos and Spirit, and no pirates, he really didn't think he'd be able to escape a second time.

Isaac frowned as well. "Well… you will. They don't want to kill me. They want to make me one of them. And I think that might be worse."

"Why do you hate Desians so much?" Rowan asked. "I mean, I hate them because they torture and enslave my people, but they leave half-elves alone usually."

"But they are my people," Isaac said.

Rowan gave him a weird look. "No they aren't. They're humans. You're-"

"I'm Sylvaranti," Isaac said. "I was born here, just like you. And the people they enslave are Sylvaranti too. And in fact, even the Desians are Sylvaranti! But they don't realize that we're all the same, and that pisses me off. I think if Tethe'alla were still here, it would be better because then all the Sylvaranti could come together and hate Tethe'alla, like in the old days. But then Tethe'alla disappeared and we all turned on each other and it's just stupid."

Rowan couldn't think of anything to say to that. To be entirely honest, he'd never actually spoken with a half-elf that wasn't a Desian before, and the things Isaac was saying surprised him. Perhaps it was unusual for half-elves to think of themselves as Sylvaranti before being half-elves. Isaac didn't seem like a horrible person, and he certainly didn't seem like a Desian, but was this normal? All the other half-elves he knew were Desians; in all likelihood, Isaac was a freak. Even the worst haul of fish had at least one or two good ones mixed in.

Outside the shed, the chain rattled as the padlock came undone and then thumped to the ground. In an instant, both Rowan and Isaac sat up and stared at the door. Was this it? Were the Desians coming to take them to the ship?

"Stay here." Rowan got to his feet, completely ignoring his bloody lip, black eye, and aching arm. He had things to worry about, so that kind of distraction was pushed to the side. He grabbed his ring off the ground in front of the door and prepared to slash as soon as he saw a glimpse of Desian.

The shed door slid open. He braced himself. He saw a person but after the darkness of the shed it was just a silhouette. He began to attack – but stopped in the nick of time. It wasn't a Desian. It wasn't Pierce, either. It wasn't even Kratos or Spiritua.

It was a girl. She had long blonde hair in a braid and wore a green dress, the hem of which was almost as dirty as her bare feet. She had a bloodied sword in her hand and a mad grin on her face. "Well hi, Ginger," she said.

Rowan's confusion stepped aside for a moment to make room for his old friend irritation. "My name is _not_ Ginger."

"What is it then?"

"Rowan."

"…Rowan means red. You know that right?"

"What?"

"My name's Rebecca Galatea! Pleasure to meet you." She stuck out her hand to shake. Since she had a sword in her right hand, she held out her left hand to shake. Rowan's left hand was busy being attached to a broken arm, so he awkwardly tried to move it forward. Before he could complete the action, she pulled her hand back and put it on her hip. "Or was I supposed to curtsey there? Eh, whatever. Let's go."

Isaac had come to stand behind Rowan at some point during the conversation. He shared a confused glance with Rowan, who shrugged. He had no idea who this girl was, why she was helping them, where she could have possibly come from, or even why she was running around with no shoes on. But following her seemed like a better idea than standing around in the shed, so they took off after her.

Rebecca raced through the streets. Rowan was worried at first about getting re-captured by Desians, but they were all running towards the dock and no one paid them any attention. He looked over his shoulder once and saw a pillar of smoke heading up towards the sky. He recalled an explosion not too long ago, and wondered what might have caused it. Whatever it was, he hoped Spirit was ok.

They followed Rebecca right out of town and back to the very same hilltop they'd stopped at on the way in. Safely out of town, Rebecca threw herself on the grass with a yawn. "All in all," she said as she spread her limbs out and starred at up the night sky, "I think that went well."

A thousand questions hurtled through Rowan's head. The first one he was able to ask was, "Why aren't you wearing any shoes?" The soles of her feet were caked in mud and dirt, and it looked like she'd been walking in the wilderness without any shoes for at least a couple days.

"Easier than heels," she said, as if this explained everything.

Rowan was halfway through opening his mouth to ask 'and why were you wearing high heels?' when Isaac beat him to it and instead said, "Thanks a lot for saving us. Who are you, anyway?"

"I told you," she said, "I'm Rebecca. I saw those guys taking you into the village earlier and I wanted to help. I was just waiting for the opportune moment to come after you, and when the boat blew up I figured that was the best chance I was going to get.

"Oh yeah," Rowan said, "about that. Do you have any idea what happened?"

"Nope. Well, I saw an angel go flying into the air followed by a massive fireball, so I guess he probably had something to do with it."

_Kratos_, Rowan thought. He should probably thank him when they met up again later. He wouldn't, of course, but he probably should.

"Another thing," Rowan said. "I know your name is Rebecca, but who the hell _are_ you? Where are you parents?" She looked like she was maybe a year or two younger than him. She could theoretically be old enough to be travelling on her own, but from her daintily embroidered dress and cast-off high heels, she gave off the vibe of a spoiled rich girl who accidently wandered away from her family's campsite.

"My parents are… far away," she said. "They live in a little village in the woods. You won't have heard of it. But now I have some questions for you: who were those guys who kidnapped you?"

Rowan and Isaac stared at her. It was like she had just asked what the green stuff they were sitting in was, or what the big blue wet thing east of the beach was. Rowan and Isaac shared a look, and then Rowan decided to try and tackle this one. "Uh… they were Desians."

"Desians? I thought they were good guys?"

Rowan was beginning to wonder if she was just pulling their legs. "Have you been living under a rock? Desians have been enslaving and killing humans for a hundred years! How could you think they're the good guys? Wait, you're not a half-elf, are you?"

"She's not," Isaac said. When Rowan gave him a questioning look, he added, "I can detect people's mana signatures. It means I can tell if they're half-elves or not."

"Stop jumping down my throat," she said, leaping to her feet. "My parents were super over-protective so I don't know that much about the world. It's not my fault I don't know about Desians so stop being all fussy. I can see you don't need my help anymore." Her expression was cold now and she sheathed her sword. "I'm heading out. I trust you boys can make it home on your own."

"Wait, Rebecca," Rowan got to his feet. He didn't like the idea of her wandering off into the night on her own, but she seemed determined to leave.

"See you around," she called over her shoulder. "Or not. Whatever."

When she had walked away, Rowan sank back into the grass. "Man. What the hell."

"She got us out of there, so she can't be all that bad," Isaac said.

"I guess." He sighed and looked back into town. "My friends will probably be meeting us here soon. Then we can head back to your inn."

"Great!" Isaac smiled. "And, thanks for trying to save me. I do appreciate it."

"Don't mention it."


	23. A Series of Uncomfortable Conversations

Hello, I would like to give you a heads-up that the next chapter might take a little longer than usual to update. I'm taking the month off in November in order to participate in National Novel Writing Month, which is an event where authors try to write 50,000 word novels in 30 days. So during November, all my writing time will be devoted to that story instead. I'll continue with First Steps come December. I know I don't update terribly often, so thanks to everyone who's sticking this out with me.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: A Series of Uncomfortable Conversations**

They were almost asleep on their feet by the time they reached the inn, except for Spiritua and Kratos of course. He was tired, but much more capable of going long periods of time with little sleep. As they walked, Kratos mulled over everything that had happened. Rowan had told him about the girl they'd met. He had a theory about who she might be, but wasn't certain. If he was right, though… Mithos wasn't going to like this.

"There's the inn!" Isaac said, perking up as soon as it came into view. By now it was almost dawn again. They'd wanted to get as far away from the port as possible. After the ship burned down, the Desians had scattered like an anthill after being stomped on.

Isaac's shout startled Pierce and Rowan out of their sleep-deprived trances. "Thank Origin," Rowan mumbled.

There was no one at the desk when they entered, but that didn't stop Isaac. He ran to the door behind the desk shouting, "Mom? Mom! I'm home!"

He had barely touched the doorknob when the door swung open and his mother stood in the doorway. For a moment she hesitated to reach for him, as if afraid he wasn't real, or he might be snatched away again. But then that moment ended, and she wrapped him in one of the most strangling hugs Kratos had ever seen. Once satisfied that her son was indeed home, safe and sound, she looked up at the others. "Thank you," she said, tears threatening to spill out of her eyes. "From the bottom of my heart, _thank you_. I wish there was something more I could do to repay you for bring my child home."

"It was our pleasure, ma'am," Pierce said.

Kratos chose not to comment on just how much 'pleasure' he'd taken in going a day out of their way for one kid. It was great that he had been saved, but he really didn't want this journey to get held up any more than it had to.

The door leading up to the guest rooms opened and Shea appeared, yawning and rubbing her eyes. Through a big yawn she said, "Y-y-y-you're back. Good."

"Hi, Shea," Rowan said. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." She walked across the room and inspected the group, paying particular attention to Rowan's black eye. "I see you managed to hurt yourself again."

"You're hurt, too, Isaac," his mother said, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Are you alright? It looks like you were in a fight…"

Isaac and Rowan shared a glance, and then Rowan said, "Desians."

Although he had no proof, Kratos had a sneaking suspicion there was more to their injuries than simply 'Desians'.

"I made some more gels, but they're cooling in the kitchen overnight," Shea said. "They won't be ready for a few more hours."

"It's fine," Rowan said. "Just a few bumps and scrapes."

"I want you to get to bed, sweetie," Isaac's mom said.

"Yeah, just a sec, Mom." He walked across the room and approached Rowan. There, he stuck out his hand and the two boys exchanged a simple handshake. "Thanks," Isaac said. In a softer tone of voice that his mom couldn't hear but Kratos certainly could, he added, "And sorry, for you know what."

"Yeah," Rowan said in the same quiet voice. "You too. I admit I was wrong about you. You're not like the others."

Kratos resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had met his share of racists in his time, but nothing was more awkward than a racist sincerely trying, but failing horribly, to be nice.

Isaac retracted his hand. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I'm just saying you're a good guy," Rowan said, looking honestly confused as to why Isaac was offended.

"Yeah, but you're implying that me being good is exceptional, because all other people like me are bad."

"I was just trying to be nice!"

Isaac rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Thanks a lot, Rowan."

As Isaac walked away, the rest of the group gave Rowan awkward looks. Rowan still seemed determinedly oblivious to how exactly he'd gone wrong, though. He scowled, said, "Night, everybody," and then stormed off to his room.

Pierce yawned slightly. "I think we should all follow his example."

Everyone save for Kratos and Spiritua headed off to their rooms. It was already nearly dawn, so Kratos had no delusions that they'd be rested enough to head out that morning. They were probably looking at another day spent waiting here, at least. It was a pain, but they'd just have to deal with it.

Isaac's mother said, "Once again, thank you so much. Please, feel free to help yourself to anything in the kitchen and of course your room fee will be dropped. It's the least we can do."

Kratos nodded once. "Thank you, ma'am."

She left the room, and Kratos turned to Spiritua. "Are you going to retire, Chosen?"

"What's the point?" she asked, leaning against the front desk. "Not tired. Are you?"

Kratos shook his head. He could go longer without sleep than a normal human, and though he wouldn't be at his peak performance after going a night without sleep, he hardly thought a day spent sitting around at an inn required the best of his ability. Every time he thought about how off track they kept getting, it made him more and more annoyed. This was supposed to be a simple mission, dammit! In light of his steadily increasing annoyance, what he really wanted right now, far more than sleep, was a drink.

At the door to the kitchen he paused and looked back at Spiritua. "Would you like something to drink?"

She nodded. "Just milk, please."

The kitchen was a mess. Dirty plates stood in a teetering pile by the sink and vegetable peelings littered the counter. He tried to excuse it by reminding himself that the family had been quite distressed yesterday, but that did nothing for the angelic sensitivity of his nose. He sighed; the sooner they could get on with their journey, the better.

It was easy to find the glass jug of milk in the icebox, but after pouring a glass for Spiritua he found it much harder to find something for himself. Was this family completely dry? He had never thought much about the drinking habits of elves, but if it turned out this inn had nothing to drink on one of the few occasions Kratos actually felt a desire for it, then Origin help him he'd join Rowan in unfounded hatred of half-elves.

While digging through the icebox in an effort to find something suitably alcoholic, he heard the door to the inn open. Was it a stranger coming in or Spiritua heading out? In either case, he wanted to check it out and make sure she wasn't in any danger. Closing the icebox with a sigh, he gave up on his quest for alcohol and returned to the main room.

As he put his hand on the doorknob, he heard Spiritua say, "Are you lost?"

"No," replied a young voice that made Kratos freeze with the door half-open. He must have misheard. That was the only explanation. "I'm just stopping through on my way to visit a friend of mine."

But he had heard enough now to be sure. There were only three people who were close enough to him that he could pick their voices out immediately, and one of them was dead. He shouldn't have even bothered his first deduction – there was no mistaking Mithos Yggdrasill.

He wanted to barge in and ask, 'what in Origin's name are you doing here?' but implicating a connection with him would make Spiritua suspicious. Angels from Cruxis should not be on familiar terms with random boys off the street, and if Mithos wanted Spiritua to know his connection with Cruxis he would have said so outright.

"My name's Mithos," he said. "What's your name?" He sounded for all the world like the perfectly ordinary fourteen-year-old he'd been a hundred years ago. If Kratos didn't know him so well, he'd have been fooled too.

"Spiritua," she said.

"Hey, I know you! My priest told me about you. He said you're the Chosen of Mana."

_What are you playing at, Mithos?_ Kratos hovered at the door, not sure if he should interrupt their conversation or not. Then he thought about the fact that only hours ago he'd blown up a ship full of Desians and wondered if he really wanted to confront Mithos right now. He stepped back from the door and decided to wait it out for at least a little longer.

Spiritua didn't say anything, but she must have nodded.

"That's so cool," Mithos said. "You must be really brave to break seals like that! Aren't you scared?"

A pause, then: "Some. But I have faith in Martel and I know she'll protect and guide me."

"Wow… you must trust Martel a whole lot."

Another pause, where presumably she nodded.

"I do too," Mithos said. "I love her so much. I know she'll take care of you because she's so very kind. Are you travelling alone?"

"No. There are others. And an angel."

"An angel? Wow! I sure would like to meet him! Is he here? If he is, I bet he has super angel hearing and he can probably hear us right now, huh?"

Spiritua was quiet; she probably didn't know what to say to that.

"If he can hear us, I'd like to ask him to come out and talk to me. I've always wanted to meet a real live angel!"

Kratos sighed. He got the feeling Mithos hadn't actually come with the intent of just speaking to Spiritua and he wasn't going to be able to put this conversation off any longer. He entered the room, and both Spiritua and Mithos turned their heads to watch him approach. Spiritua looked uncertain, while Mithos had a deceptively-excited look on his face.

"Spiritua," Kratos said, "I'd like to ask you to please go upstairs. I wish to speak to this boy alone."

Spiritua frowned, not understanding his intentions. But she trusted him, and headed off to her room. When Kratos heard her door click shut, he turned his full attention to Mithos. "What do you want?"

"Let's sit down."

Kratos followed him to a table and set down the glass of milk he was still holding. "I would have thought you wouldn't want to actually meet the girl you're going to sacrifice for Martel."

"On the contrary," Mithos said, "I wanted to meet her in person to make sure she's worthy to take my sister's soul."

"And what was your conclusion?"

"I like her," Mithos said. "I think she will make a wonderful Martel."

Kratos was surprised to find himself feeling disappointed by that statement. He hadn't even realize that for a moment he had gotten his hopes up that Mithos would reject her and decide on a different Chosen.

Mithos must have seen the look on his face, because he said, "Don't get too attached to her, Kratos."

"I'm not." He couldn't help it. It just wasn't in his nature to kill innocent people.

"You're not going to back out on me, are you?"

"Of course not."

Mithos scowled. "I'd be more likely to trust you if you hadn't just blown up a Desian ship."

"Ah." Why was he nervous about being scolded by Mithos? It was supposed to be the other way around, with Mithos begging for his forgiveness after doing something stupid and reckless with a sword for 'practice'. "Yes. About that…"

"Do I really need to remind you that the Desians are on _our_ side?"

"I realize that." He kept his face carefully still. He might want to kick himself for feeling intimidated by his former student, but if he let Mithos know that, well, he'd just have to kill himself.

Mithos eyed him steadily, as if sizing him up, like they hadn't already known each other for over a century. "You're not going to betray me too, are you, Kratos?"

For the first time, he saw a bit of the old Mithos breaking through his new demeanour. The Mithos who was happy, and trusted his friends unquestioningly, and desperately sought for Kratos' approval. "Of course not." And for the first time in the conversation, Kratos felt less like he was defending himself and more like he was reassuring an old friend.

"I just want things to go back to the way they were, with Martel and you and Yuan and we were all happy…" Mithos looked up with wide eyes. "And the only way that will happen is if we get Martel back. You understand, right?"

Kratos sighed. "Of course, Mithos."

"Good. So you're not going to kill any more Desians, right?"

"No."

"And you're not going to take any more detours, right?"

"No." For once, Kratos wished Mithos would take on his adult form. At least that way he'd feel a bit better about getting scolded like a child by him.

Mithos got up and pushed his chair back in. "I think we're done here. I'm still not entirely sure I can trust you, Kratos, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. Please don't shake my faith in you again. Bye."

"Goodbye," Kratos said as Mithos walked out. When the door clicked shut, he was finally alone. Kratos leaned back in his chair and sighed heavily. Whatever happened to this being a _simple_ mission? He frowned, then picked up the glass of milk sitting on the table and took a sip. He set it back on the table and gave it a forlorn look. It just wasn't the same. He still had a few hours before everyone else woke up, so he set off to the kitchen in search of a proper drink.

* * *

Elsewhere, Rowan slowly closed his door behind him. Pierce was already asleep and snoring heavily, and Rowan had crept out of his room slowly and cautiously so as not to wake him. When the door was closed, he practically tip-toed down the hall. The room Shea and Spirit were sharing was right at the top of the stairs. He had almost reached the door when Spirit appeared at the top of the stairs.

Rowan froze and tried to hold back his guilty look, while Spirit just looked confused. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," Rowan quickly mumbled. "Are you, uh, going to bed?"

"Kratos kicked me out of the main room because he wanted to talk to some weird kid."

On any other occasion, Rowan would have jumped at the chance to eavesdrop and figure out just who this weird kid was, but tonight – or rather this morning – he had other things on his mind. "Oh. Huh. Listen, can you go to my room for a minute? I want to talk to Shea. Alone."

Spirit raised one eyebrow and Rowan had a bad feeling that she knew exactly what he wanted to talk about. This was not something he really wanted to discuss with his little sister, so he just said, "Please? Pierce is asleep but if you're quiet you won't wake him – he sleeps like a log."

"Ok," she said smiling coyly at him before walking away. Rowan's cheeks flushed and he clenched his fists. He waited until the door to his room was closed, and his face felt sufficiently blush free, before knocking on Shea's door.

She answered it eight seconds later (he was counting). She was wearing baggy white pyjamas and her hair was down from its usual ponytail, spread out in curly waves across her shoulders. "What's up?"

"Can I talk to you?"

"Sure." She opened the door a little wider to let him in, and Rowan closed the door behind him. She crossed her arms and asked, "Is something wrong? Is it your arm?"

His injury was so far from his mind right now that it took a second for him to realize what she meant. "What? No. It's fine. I'm fine."

"So…?"

Rowan took a deep breath. "Ok. Look. I'm not the kind of guy who's gonna beat around the bush about this so I'm just going to say it. I like you, Shea. More than just like a friend. And, I'm not certain, but I think you maybe like me too? To be entirely honest, the only reason I haven't asked you out yet is because I couldn't figure out where to go on a date when we're in the middle of nowhere with a group of other people. So, Shea, would you be willing to go on a date with me when we reach the next town?" He watched her expression carefully the entire time he was talking, and for most of it her face remained impassive. Was that a good sign? It was certainly better than disgust, or amusement. He wasn't entirely experienced with this, so he wasn't sure what the protocol was.

And then she… smiled? Sort of. Her mouth was smiling but her eyes were frowning, and worst of all the smile part of it seemed to be more of a sympathetic smile than a happy one. He may not be super experienced at this, but Rowan was pretty sure that this wasn't the expression most girls made right before agreeing to a date.

"Oh, Rowan…"

Rowan didn't let his gaze leave her face. If she was about to reject him, he was going to take it like a man.

"Rowan, I think you are a very kind person," she said. "And you're right; I do quite like you. But I can't be with you right now."

Rowan wasn't quite sure how to take this. It wasn't really a rejection, because she said she did like him. But what was she talking about? She liked him, and he liked her, and that should be enough! "But… why not?"

"I can't tell you," she said. "Because if I tell you what it is, you'll do it because you want me to like you, not because you've actually decided it's right."

Rowan flailed for a response. This wasn't how this conversation was supposed to go. He had prepared for a rejection and prepared for a happy acceptance, but an ultimatum? It hadn't even crossed his mind. "I… I'll try? I guess. Can you give me a hint?"

"No," she said. "I do hope you figure it out, though. Not just for me, but I think it will be good for you."

This just confused Rowan more. He frowned, shook his head, and said, "Well… goodnight, I guess. Well, it's actually morning. Just… bye."

"I'm sorry," Shea said. "Have a good sleep."

"Yeah, right," Rowan mumbled, and left the room. Well, that had just gone _great_.

When he reached his room, Spiritua looked up with a questioning look. When she saw his face, though, all she did was walk across the room and gently hug him. He returned the hug one-handed, and his heart wasn't really in it. Spiritua didn't seem to take this personally, however.

Once she was gone, he lay back on his bed, listening to Pierce snore. What did Shea want him to change? Did he need to be nicer? Smarter? Braver? What trait did he need to improve? Frustrated, he tried to fall asleep.

* * *

They were on the coast, stopping for a lunch break. Lloyd couldn't help but smile. Everything was, for the most part, back to the way it used to be. Regal and Presea sat quietly eating their sandwiches, Sheena was berating Zelos for something he'd said, and Kratos sat by himself, looking sullen. He'd finished his sandwich and was now watching the others with a faintly annoyed expression. Lloyd took it upon himself to try and cheer him up.

"Hey, Dad," he said, walking over. "What's up?"

"Hello, Lloyd," he said.

"Are you still made about us going to Palmacosta?" They'd left Altamira that morning, and all day Kratos had seemed to be putting conscious effort in keeping a smile off his face. More so than usual, that is. Even while telling the story he'd been much more sullen than usual, and Lloyd couldn't help but wonder if he was exaggerating his descriptions of annoyance with his party in the past to try and get the point across with today's listeners.

"I'm not mad," he said. "I'm disappointed."

Lloyd frowned. "Huh? Disappointed about what?"

"I had thought you understood the importance of getting rid of the Exspheres, Lloyd. But now I see you still don't grasp just how essential it is to get them off of the planet."

Lloyd scowled. He had hoped that after all they'd been through on the journey, Kratos would at least not talk down to him. "I know that it's important, but other things are important, too. The Exspheres will still be there when we're done. I can't say the same for Professor Raine and Genis." He looked down at the grass, hating that he had just put that thought into words. He'd hoped that if he avoided thinking about that fact that Raine could very well be killed then maybe it wouldn't be real.

"Yes," Kratos said. "But the Exspheres are more important for the greater-"

"If you're about to say 'the greater good' then just stop right now," Lloyd snapped, looking up at him. "I thought I made this clear to you ages ago. I don't believe in all this 'greater good' crap. I refuse to accept that it's a choice between saving the one and saving the many. I wasn't willing to sacrifice Colette and I won't sacrifice Professor Sage. We're going to save them _and_ get rid of the Exspheres, so stop griping that you didn't get to do what you wanted first."

Kratos hung his head. "Someday, I hope to reach a point when I can stop being taught life lessons by my son."

"If you leave the planet, you'll never know."

Kratos didn't reply. He just stared out at the squabbling between Zelos and Sheena that had now brought Regal and Presea into the mix as both of them tried to get the others to take their sides. Regal and Presea seemed determined to stay out of it, and Colette was watching the whole debacle with wide eyes. "It would appear everyone is done with their lunch. Let's get moving again."

* * *

It was early-afternoon. Kratos sat at a table by the window, planning for the future. The next ranch they would encounter would be the Southern Ranch, located on the coast down south. Kratos had largely ignored the ranch system while in Welgaia, but he was fairly certain the Cardinal there was known as Veris and preyed on the people from the villages along the Palm Coast. He had heard something recently about Veris trying an experimental method, but he didn't know the exact details behind it and he didn't really want to find out. Kratos was counting on there being a port of some kind down south where they could find a ship to take them to Thoda Island. It was pretty close to the ranch, but they should be able to avoid it.

The silence of the still room was interrupted when someone entered from behind the desk. Kratos looked up and saw Benedict walking slowly across the room.

"Good afternoon," Kratos said.

Benedict nodded and came to sit across from Kratos. "Have you slept at all since you returned last night?"

"No," Kratos said.

"You are not entirely human, are you?"

"No." There was no point in lying. He wasn't actively trying to hide his angelic self; it just wasn't something he brought up.

"Yes, I see," Benedict said. "I had heard that the Chosen was being escorted by an angel, and by process of deduction I assumed it had to be you."

Kratos nodded.

"If you are indeed an angel from Cruxis, I believe you might be able to answer the questions I have about the faith."

Kratos nodded again, though reluctantly. He was here to carry out the Regeneration, not act as a missionary for Martel.

"Before I came to Sylvarant, I lived in Heimdall. I spent my whole life there. I don't know if you are familiar with it, but it's a very small village. I remember quite clearly a young woman who lived in Heimdall. Her name was Martel Yggdrasill, and she was cast out of the village with her little brother, Mithos."

Suddenly Kratos' disinterest in the topic turned into worry. Of all the problems he'd thought he might encounter, meeting someone who knew Martel before she was a 'goddess' wasn't one of them.

"When I think of my own daughter, or my grandchildren, who are half-elves, I think back to the day they were banished, and how I said nothing to support them. I think about them often, and their names have stuck in my memory. And so it is with great curiosity that I approach the religion Martelism, first put forth by the hero Mithos. So, angel, tell me. Is she really a goddess?"

Kratos drummed his fingers on the table. Was there really any point trying to debate this? It wasn't like Kratos was a hard and fast supporter of Mithos' plan. A large part of him wished that Martel could simply be allowed to rest in peace, but he followed Mithos because he couldn't think of what else to do. "I think you've answered your own question."

"I see. So it is as I thought. I have another question, then: How do you fit into all of this? Why do you serve a goddess you know to be false?"

Kratos frowned. "I don't see why you think is your concern."

"Humour an old man."

It was the first time in a very long while that an old man actually was older than Kratos. So he just sighed and said, "Think of it as an agreement between old friends."

"You know, I've been alive for a very long time," Benedict said. "When I was born, people still thought of the Kharlan War as a minor spat between two territories that would be over in a couple months." He crossed his arms on the table and stared out the window. "But… it dragged on. The rulers of the territories called up old alliances in a twisted web. Eventually all the territories around the world were part of either the Sylvarant side or the Tethe'alla side, and the fighting just went on, and on, and on. A thousand years of bloodshed and pain, all because of agreements between old friends. They fought because they had promised they would instead of with a conviction of their own, so they didn't know where to draw the line."

He turned his eyes back to Kratos, who was keeping his face determinedly blank. Benedict didn't say anything. Nothing needed to be said. Kratos understood his point perfectly, but it wasn't something he wished to address.

He was saved when Rowan came thumping down the stairs with Spiritua in tow. He yawned heavily upon entering the room, while Spirit was as awake as ever. Benedict got to his feet and said, "Good afternoon." He smiled and walked over to them, leaving Kratos alone as if they'd just been discussing the fine spring weather.

"Hey," Rowan said, rubbing his eyes. "When are we leaving, Kratos?" he asked.

"Tomorrow morning was my plan," Kratos said.

"Oh, awesome," Rowan said. "Another night with a real bed!"

"Chosen, do you have a moment?" Benedict said.

Spiritua looked up at him in confusion, but nodded.

"I wanted to thank you properly for saving my grandson. I know that you are the one who led the expedition. Even though I am not a believer in Martel, I am glad to think that a noble girl like you is trying to save the world, and I want you to have the best of luck in that. Do you have an item I could use for a second, perhaps… that ring on your finger?"

Spiritua looked down at the ring her mother had given her. She held her hands close to her chest and looked down at the slim golden band and pretty green gem. She hesitated to hand it over, but after a reassuring glance from Rowan, she delicately slipped it off of her finger and gave it to Benedict. She kept her eyes on it while it was in his hands, making sure he treated it properly.

Benedict held the ring in one palm while slowly waving his other hand back and forth over it. He mumbled a few words under his breath and then a flash of green light burst from the ring. It faded quickly, and then he handed it back to her.

Spiritua inspected her ring carefully, making sure the light hadn't hurt it.

"I've enchanted the ring," Benedict said. "You can now use it to manipulate mana. I hope it serves you well."

"Thank you," Spiritua said after deducing that the ring hadn't been harmed. She slipped it back onto her finger –

* * *

"Oh, oh!" Lloyd said. "That's the Sorcerer's Ring!"

Everyone else turned to stare at Lloyd with annoyance on their faces.

"Yes, Lloyd," Sheena said. "I thought that was pretty obvious."

Lloyd flushed. "Well… yeah, I knew that, too. I was just pointing it out in case anyone else didn't get it."

* * *

Half an hour later, the entire group was sitting around in the front room.

"Are you and Shea going to head back to Cleopolica now?" Rowan asked Pierce.

Pierce frowned. "Well…" He crossed his arms and contemplated the table. "It occurs to me that even though we've moved beyond the Cleopolica Ranch that I am familiar with, it is apparent that there is still a great danger posed by Desians. A larger travelling party could be decisive in staying safe. And just the two of us travelling alone through the mountains might be dangerous, too."

Rowan grinned. "Admit it. You just want to come with us."

Pierce smiled faintly. "I will admit, personal desire might be playing into my decision. If you're willing, Kratos, I would like to continue to accompany you."

Kratos nodded. "Your assistance is welcome, Captain."

"I suppose I have to tag along too, right?" Shea said.

"Yes," Pierce said. "You're still on parole. You're sticking with me."

She shrugged. "To be honest, I would have followed you guys anyways." She glanced over at Rowan, who quickly diverted his eyes.

"Now that that's settled," Kratos said, "spend the rest of the day resting and getting ready to travel again. Tomorrow morning we'll head out."


	24. The High Life

****I live! Yep, back from my longer-than-intentioned hiatus. After November, I still wanted to finish my novel (I reached 70,000 words, but the story wasn't done and I didn't want to put it off and lose the rhythm of it) so I finished it in December, and then had family holiday stuff taking up my time, but now I am free from other commitments for now and will be back to regularly updating this. Sorry for the long break, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: The High Life**

"I'm actually kind of excited," Rowan said as they walked across a grassy field. "I don't know much about the world south of the mountains." He thought for a moment, and then added, "To be entirely honest, I didn't know much about the world immediately outside Luin before this, either."

"That makes two of us, then," Pierce said. "The mountains are so difficult to cross that communication between the regions is nearly non-existent."

"It's not really that different," Shea said. "At least, the difference between the Palm Coast and the Cleopolican region is negligible compared to Triet."

"Well, Triet _is_ a desert," Pierce said. "I can imagine it would be quite different."

"Have you been to the Palm Coast before, Kratos?" Rowan asked.

"A while ago," he answered. "Before the worlds were divided. Although, I imagine it's pretty different now."

"The Palm Coast is actually a really awful name," Shea said. "There aren't any palm trees. It's pretty temperate."

"There were palm trees there before the worlds separated," Kratos said. "The climate changed afterwards and can't support palm trees anymore, but the name stuck."

"One thing about it, though," Shea said, "is that they have really awful soil. They have trouble growing enough food for everyone. They import a lot of it from Triet, but that's expensive because it has to come by ship."

"So where's the nearest town?" Rowan asked. "We've been walking all morning and I haven't seen a single loving person since we left the inn."

"Farther south," Shea said. "There are a handful of villages along the southern coast."

"There's also a ranch on the southern coast," Kratos said. "So we're going to stay as far north as is possible and hopefully avoid any altercations with Desians. For now we're heading for Thoda, which is a tiny village on the south-east coast. There's a small mountain range between it and the ranch, so we should be safe."

"Is that where the next seal is?" Pierce asked.

"No, the next seal is on an island."

"Another island," Shea grumbled. "Great. Are they _all_ on islands?"

"No," Kratos said. "After this, the final one is beneath the city of Triet."

"Triet?" Rowan said. "Oh, cool, Shea, we get to see your hometown!"

"Uh… yeah," she said. "That should be pretty exciting."

"That means we're going to have to cross the desert," Pierce said. "That's going to be a difficult undertaking."

"There's an oasis in the middle of the desert," Kratos said. "If we stop there we can refill our water and that should hold us over until we reach the city."

"I don't think we should stop there," Shea said with a frown. "There's a community of half-elves living at the oasis and they don't really like outsiders. It would be best if we avoided it completely."

Kratos said, "I'm sure we can manage. Without having an oasis to stop at, it would be difficult to carry enough supplies to make it all the way to Triet."

"But-"

Pierce said, "We can figure this hurdle out when we get there. For now let's just focus on reaching Thoda."

"Indeed," Kratos said. He glanced backwards, to make sure Spiritua was still with them. She rarely participated in group conversations, so it was easy to forget that she was even still there. He was worried she might wander off for some reason and no one would notice until it was too late. As he looked back, though, he noticed that Rowan, lurking near the back of the group with her, was looking at her too. He had a feeling that boy would notice instantly if his sister went missing. For all his faults, Kratos couldn't say he wasn't a loyal brother.

"How long until we reach Thoda?" Rowan asked. "'Cause I see nothing but empty fields for miles."

"At least a week," Kratos said.

"Man, this is going to be a dull walk," he said, stretching his arms behind his head. His left arm was finally out of the sling, though Kratos joined Pierce in confusion as to how he'd healed so quickly. For most of the day, though, Rowan had been swinging his arms all over the place, enjoying having a free range of movement again.

"There's something up ahead," Spiritua suddenly said, pausing and pointing towards something off to their left.

Kratos followed her finger with his eyes and spotted several brightly painted carts and wagons pulled by velocidragons. For a moment he thought they were pirates, but the Cleopolican bandits would never cross the mountains. Besides, they were heading south-west, coming on from the peninsula that stuck out into the ocean on the east. It seemed like their paths would cross when they got farther ahead.

"I don't see anything," Rowan said.

"They don't appear to be dangerous," Kratos said. "Looks like a caravan of some sort."

"We should be alert just in case," Pierce said, drawing his sword.

"What should we do?" Shea asked. "Hang back and wait for them to move on, or keep walking and meet up with them?"

"We might as well keep moving forward," Kratos said. "If they're a threat, I'm sure we can handle them. Whatever the case, I would be more comfortable travelling this road knowing who they are."

Even if Kratos hadn't wanted to meet them, it would be too late now. They were drawing close, and the people on the carts were standing and waving at them.

"Well they seem friendly enough," Rowan said.

"Famous last words," Pierce added softly.

The middle-aged man sitting at the front of the leading cart jumped off when they drew level. "Hello!" he said. "Hi! How are you?"

Staring was rude an unprofessional. In this case, Kratos found it hard not to. The colour scheme of the man's outfit made it look like a tropical aviary had crashed into him. Kratos couldn't even tell exactly what he was wearing because the barrage of colours made it impossible to figure out where one garment ended and the other began. There was a wreath of flowers around his neck and even more woven throughout his long hair.

"Hello…" Kratos said. He had lived for over a century and seen many bizarre things, but even he wasn't sure quite how to react to this man. A cursory glance at the other members of the caravan revealed that they were dressed in a similar manner, although perhaps not quite as over the top.

"We don't encounter other travellers on this road very often," he said. "Where are you folks head?" Some people talk with their hands. This man talked with his entire body, swaying and waving his arms about in time with his words like he was perpetually bobbing in water.

"We're travelling south to Thoda," Kratos said.

"Really? That's great! Really great! We're heading south too! You should come with us!"

"I… I'd have to discuss this with my companions." It had been a long time since Kratos had felt so flabbergasted by a stranger, and he didn't quite like remembering how it felt. For once, he was willing to get the others' opinions on what they should do. He turned to the others, not before noticing that the man seemed to have become thoroughly distracted by a bird.

"I'm not certain that these people would be ideal travelling companions," Pierce said in a low voice.

"Not ideal, no," Shea said. "But they're offering us a ride to Thoda. That would cut many days off of our time and make up for all the detours we've taken. It could get us back on track."

Kratos thought for a moment. While these travellers were certainly strange, he didn't think they were dangerous. At most, they would just be annoying for a few days. But if they could speed them along the journey, all the better. Shea was right; they were already a few days off schedule so this could be a lucky break. "I think we ought to take them up on the offer," he said.

He turned back around to inform the strange man that they would like to accept the offer to travel, only to find him rather engrossed with counting the petals on all the flowers around his neck. Kratos was already starting to feel the urge to strangle the man by the time he finished accepting the offer.

* * *

Tying shoelaces with one hand was a very difficult thing to do. Rowan had discovered this right after he broke his arm, and though he had a few weeks of experience now, it was still a pain. He sat in the dewy grass the next morning, staring at his untied shoes with a glare. Maybe he could just leave them untied today? He didn't really need to walk anywhere, right? They'd been travelling with the caravan for two days now, and had gotten a ride on the carts both days.

Maybe he could get away with using both hands, though. His arm felt great today. It seemed to only want to heal while he was asleep, which meant he usually woke up feeling much better than he had when going to sleep.

"Hey, Rowan."

He jolted as Shea approached, and then quickly tried to play it cool. "Oh. Uh… hey." He hadn't spoken to her since that night in the Dove's Rest. "What's up?" _What's up?_ That was the stupidest way to start a conversation. Shea probably though he was an idiot. Of course, she'd probably thought that since the very beginning. That was the big problem, wasn't it? She was just too smart for him. She didn't want to be with someone who didn't even know how to read.

"Can I see your arm? I think it might be fully healed now."

"Oh. Uh… sure." He pulled his arm out of the sling, and it didn't even hurt to move it anymore. He took off his jacket and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt.

With gentle hands she unwrapped the bandages and looked closely at his arm. She ran her dark fingers across his skin, and asked, "Does this hurt?"

"No."

She tapped lightly near his wrist. "What about this?"

"Still no."

She smiled. "Good news. It's basically done healing. Your bones have refused. You're going to want to go easy on it for a little while, but I think I can officially say you're not my patient anymore."

"Awesome." He frowned. "I mean, it's not awesome that I'm not your patient because I have no problem being with you. I just mean it's great that my arm isn't broken anymore."

Shea gave him a bemused smirk. Why was it that conversations with Shea never went the way Rowan planned them? Quick, change the topic!

"So… Pierce said it healed pretty fast. Is that normal with an Exsphere?"

"Yeah. Don't worry about it. You're just a fast healer naturally and the Exsphere accelerated the process."

"Oh. Cool."

"Well, I'll see you around, ok?" She smiled as she walked away.

"Yeah…" He looked down at his arm, twisting it around to test the strength. It felt a bit stiff, but all in all it seemed ok. He ripped the sling from around his neck and happily discarded it into his bag. It was going to be so great to have full use of both his arms again.

Across the camp, he spotted a couple guys he'd met yesterday and started heading over. As friendly as Pierce and Spirit were, it was nice to spend time with people his own age for once.

* * *

Three days after they had joined the caravan, the strangling urge was so strong Kratos forced himself to stay far away from the leader, whose name turned out to be Badger, lest he do something he would probably eventually regret. Of course, that wasn't to say that the rest of the merry band of morons was that much better. The caravan seemed to work under the principal that moving forward was physically impossible without some sort of musical accompaniment. All things considered, Kratos was pretty sure he preferred the singing over the attempts at playing musical instruments. One sounded like a herd of dying animals, and the other sounded like a herd of dying animals having their death throes in a pile of tambourines.

He took refuge in one of the empty wagons being used as storage. Luckily, after the first day the travellers seemed to have given up on their attempts to invite him outside. He was pretty sure it had been different people offering each invitation, but he couldn't be sure. They came in a male model and a female model, but beyond that they all just blurred into one colourful, flowery, musical annoyance, all with names like 'Flower' and 'Sunshine' and 'Woodpecker' (though he was pretty sure there was only one Woodpecker).

From what he could tell, Rowan was off with a group of boys his age and he had no clue where Shea and Pierce were. But he wasn't alone in the wagon, for shortly into the first day Spiritua had shown up, looking for somewhere to hide from the chaos outside. She was nestled in a corner on a pile of blankets that looked like they'd been thrown-up by a rainbow, reading a book she had found buried in a box. Kratos didn't know the contents of the book, nor did he particularly want to know.

"Kratos," Spiritua suddenly said, looking up from her book, "what's the third seal?"

"Water," he said. "There's a temple on Thoda Island originally built in honour of Undine."

Spiritua frowned. "Why are Cruxis' seals in the place of the Summon Spirits?"

"Quite simply, the temples were already there. It would be a waste of resources to build a new temple."

"What about the people who worship Undine there?" Spiritua asked. "Do they know it has been converted to a seal?"

"I don't believe so," Kratos said. "There's a small community that lives in the temple full-time. It's the only structure on the island, so the priests took up residence inside. They shouldn't bother us."

Spiritua didn't answer. She didn't go back to her book, either. Instead she sat in thought, staring at the wall with a slight frown on her face. Kratos thought she was done talking, so he turned his attention to staring out the window as the green fields rolled by.

"Kratos?" When she did speak again, her voice was so quiet he almost didn't hear it.

She didn't continue her question right away. He looked over at her, taking note of how hesitant and worried she looked. "Spiritua? Is something wrong?"

"What happens after the next seal?" she finally asked. "I mean, after eating, and sleeping… what's next?"

Kratos found himself feeling guilty as he said, "You won't be able to feel pain or temperature." He shouldn't be feeling guilty; he wasn't the one who thought of this crazy plan.

"I… see," she said. "And, what comes next?"

"You will lose your voice." _Not that most of us will notice a difference_, Kratos thought.

"Anything else?"

Kratos hesitated. He should tell her. They were already half-way through the journey and it would be better to tell her in advance so she would have time to come to terms with it. All logic dictated that he should tell her the whole truth about the end of the journey. But as he looked at her worried, trusting face, he just… couldn't. He forced a light smile and said, "Nothing you need to worry about right now."

"Ok. Thank you." She glanced up at him and added, "Please don't think I want to back out. I am committed to regenerating the world."

"…Good to hear," Kratos said without any enthusiasm.

* * *

"Are we almost at Izoold?" Zelos asked, kicking a rock and watching it roll across the grass. There was no road for them to follow, since a route from Altamira to Izoold had only been possible for about a month. They weren't too concerned about getting lost, though, because all the had to do was follow the coast.

"We'll probably get there tomorrow," Regal said.

"Really? Man, it looks so much closer on a map."

"That's because the map has been scaled down," Sheena said.

Zelos rolled his eyes. "I know _that_."

"Don't feel too bad, Zelos," Lloyd said, looking back at him. "I'm not even entirely sure where we're going. Regal said to follow the coast and we'd reach Izoold, and that's all I know."

"You should be grateful Raine's not here," Sheena said with a laugh. "Or you'd be massaging your head about now."

Lloyd pouted. "it's not my fault! The worlds collided and screwed everything up! I don't even know where Iselia is anymore!"

"All I can say, Lloyd," Sheena said, "is that you had better take a look at a map before we get to Palmacosta. Who knows, Raine might pop-quiz you."

Lloyd frowned, rubbing the side of his head at the memory of getting whacked with her staff. Sheena might have a very good point.

* * *

"Rowan! Heeeeeey, Rowan!"

Rowan looked up from the campfire. Three guys he'd been talking to over the past few days ran up to him, excited looks on their faces. Tonight was their last night travelling with the caravan, because they'd reach Thoda tomorrow.

"What's up?" he asked. Spirit sat next to him, watching the boys with silent interest.

"We want you to come with us tonight," Basil said.

"Yeah," said Tom, nodding eagerly. "We want to send you off properly. Come on, we're going to have fun tonight!"

Rowan glanced at Spirit, who shrugged ever so slightly, telling him 'do what you want; I don't care.' "Sure," he said, hopping to his feet. "Where are we going?"

"We've got our own campfire," Weaver said as they started walking away. Basil had headed off in another direction to get something from his family's wagon. "We're just going to hang out for a few hours. It'll be fun."

About five minutes later they reached another fire. It was burning low, but had been left unattended and Rowan couldn't help but think that that was a tad irresponsible. Of course, from what he'd learned about the guys over the past couple days, they weren't exactly the most responsible of young men. The fire was burning by some bushes about fifty yards away from the rest of the caravan. They were near enough to the coast that Rowan could hear the waves crashing in the distance.

"So, where are you gonna go after Thoda?" Tom asked.

Rowan was pretty sure he'd explained all this before. He wasn't sure if Tom had been entirely sober at the time, though, so he explained again. "We're going to Thoda Island," he said patiently. "To break the third seal."

"Whooooa," Tom said. "That sounds pretty serious."

"Yeah, we're pretty much saving the world," Rowan said, layering on flippancy. "Someone's got to do it, you know?"

Basil returned, lugging a tin bucket filled with ice and some bottles. "Thirsty?"

"Yeah, sure," Rowan said, taking the bottle of beer Basil was holding out to him.

"So you're gonna fight monsters, right?" Weaver asked eagerly. "What kind?"

"I have no idea," Rowan said. "But they'll probably be pretty big and scary. Where are you guys headed after Thoda?"

"Oh, we don't know," Basil said. He waved his hand and said, "Badger doesn't usually plan our route very far ahead."

"Yeah, yeah," Weaver said. "We just go where the world takes us."

"Roads are like rivers," Tom said. "And we just go with the flow and see where we end up."

Rowan took a swig of beer, then shook his head a bit. "Man, I don't know how you guys can do that. It would drive me crazy not knowing where I was going."

Weaver nodded sagely. "That's because you focus too much on the _getting_ and not the _going_."

"Eh, I guess," Rowan said. Tomorrow they'd set out for Thoda and get back to being nearly killed all the time, so he didn't want to waste his last night of travelling arguing. Not that he thought arguing would be much use, anyways.

Half an hour later, all thoughts of arguing had gone from his head, helpfully ushered along with the help of two bottles of beer.

"You should come with us!" Basil shouted, slapping Rowan on the back.

"Yeah!" Weaver said. He tossed his third bottle into the pile by the bucket. "Yeah, you should! And we can do this alllll the time!"

Rowan laughed. "I should!" he said. He frowned. "But… I can't."

"Why?" Tom drawled. "If you wanna, you should follow your heart!"

"Nah, I gotta go with my sister. She needs me."

"She can come too!" Basil said, passing out another round of beers. "It'll be great!"

"But she's gotta do her stupid Chosen thing," Rowan said, scowling. He twisted off the cap of the bottle and took another drink, and then shook his head.

"Yeah, I guess so," Basil said. "That's her river and she's gotta go with it."

"Follow the river, eh?" Rowan said. He laughed. "That's kind of a weird philosophy."

"No, no, it makes perfect sense!" Tom said. "See, because we're all fish in a river." He started tracing lines on the grass that were probably supposed to represent the banks of a river. Or maybe the fish. Rowan couldn't tell. "We can go side to side a bit, but we can't change the course of the river! So we just gotta go with it and leap up the waterfalls as they come!"

"Yeah!" Rowan said. "And – wait. You don't jump _up_ a waterfall if you're going _with_ the current-"

"It's a metaphor!" Tom screamed, flailing his arms. "You just don't _understand_."

More time passed, marked not by hours but by beers.

"You're worryin' too much, Rowan," Basil said, flopping his head sideways to look at Rowan. They were lying on their backs in the grass now, staring up at the stars in rapture.

"Eh… guess so … but there's a lot of stuff to worry about." The grass was soft and the sky was huge and thoughts dragged through his brain like knife through cold butter. "I need to tropect - protect my… my thingy. Sister."

"But don' worry so much 'bout it," Tom slurred. "I tol' ya. Time's a – it's a – it's a what's-a-call-it. A river. When yer in it, you can't change its course. Just go with it and don' worry where it's headed."

In Rowan's hazy, heavily intoxicated mind, this made complete sense. "A fish in a river…" he mumbled. With a dorky grin he said, "Heh. I like fish. 'M a fishy-fish…"

"Hey, hey," Basil said, "Hey, guys, I got something," Basil said. "Something special just for Rowan 'cause he's gonna leave tomorrow." He pushed himself slowly into an upright position and reached for his bucket again. Next to it was a paper bag, which he reached into and pulled out a mass of mushy brown something.

From Rowan's hazy mind on the ground, it was hard to make out what exactly it was. "Wha's that?" He sat up as well, and it felt like the world was twisting its perspective around him rather than him moving.

"Brownies," Basil said.

"Oh, oh, are they _those_ brownies?" Tom asked, looking at Basil upside-down. "The ones we made?"

"Yeah," Basil said, passing one out to Tom and Weaver. "Want one, Rowan?"

"Have one, have one," Weaver said. "They're special!"

"How're they special?" Rowan asked as he took one from Basil.

"We put in some 'special' ingredients," Basil said with a wide grin.

"Yeah, yeah, right, we foun' these mushrooms, see," Tom said. "An' we mixed 'em into the brownie mix and _whoa_ they make you feel great!"

"Brownies with mushrooms?" That didn't sound like a normal mix to Rowan, but if the other guys liked them so much he might as well try them. "Sure, what the hell?"

* * *

It was a peaceful evening. Spiritua sat in the grass, watching the sea of green spreading out before her ripple in the wind. It was the middle of the night, now, and everyone else was already asleep. She wasn't tired, though. At least, not physically. But she had discovered that staying up for over a week straight played tricks on the mind. All the days seemed to meld into one long, exhausting day. She wanted to lie down and let her mind rest, but she couldn't lose consciousness and so had to be alert all the time. She was just so _tired_. At least sitting in the quiet night with nothing on her mind was almost like sleeping. It was peaceful, relaxing –

"Spirit!"

She jumped a bit and whipped her head around to see Rowan sprinting toward her, a wild look in his eyes.

"Spirit, Spirit, Spirit!"

His voice was entirely too loud for this late at night, or perhaps her ears were just overly sensitive. In any case, she wanted to tell him to shut up but he seemed to be freaking out over something.

"What's wrong?"

He collapsed to his knees right next to her and then reached out and grabbed her shoulders. "Spirit. This is important. I mean really. I think I'm dying."

"…What?" She was actually getting fairly alarmed. Rowan's face looked deadly serious, although his eyes were oddly dilated.

"My heart is beating _so fast_. Spirit. Spirit you have no idea."

"Uh… did you do something with those boys, Rowan?" He was gripping her shoulders rather tightly; it almost hurt.

He grabbed her hand and held it over his chest. "Do you feel it? Am I dying?"

"Er…" She could feel his heartbeat, and though it was maybe a bit faster than normal, she chalked that up to his mad dash over to her. From the look in his eyes, though, he clearly though he was dying. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, and he had grass in his hair.

"Rowan, I think you need help." She pulled his hands off her shoulders. This was easy because she was a lot stronger than him now, and he didn't even seem to notice.

"What? No! I feel great! Except that my heart is just beating so fast! Is it healthy to be beating like this? And I didn't even tell you the best part!"

"Best…part?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's cool. Oh Spirit you gotta try this. Spirit. Spirit, I can _see sound_." He started clapping, staring at his hands in fascination with every clap. "There. Do you see it? Do you? It's _beautiful_."

Spirit stood up and reached out for Rowan's hand. "Come on. You're sick. We need to go talk to Shea."

"I don't wanna," he whined as she pulled him to his feet.

"I know," she said. "But you might hurt yourself."

He ripped his arm away. "No way! I'm fine! And even if I'm not, it doesn't matter, see? Nothing really matters. I understand now! It's all so _clear_. We just need to follow the river and not stress so much about where we're going!"

"What does this have to do with anything?"

"The other guys, they – they explained it." He waved his hands around, and Spirit shot her arms out to steady him as he nearly fell over. "Time is a river. Or was it life is a river? Or time is a river of life? And we can't change where it's going, we can just deal with the current. And the current is… it's… it's destiny. I think. You should come with me and Tom can explain it to you!"

Spirit frowned. "Ok, I really think we should go talk to Shea now. Or at least Kratos or Pierce."

"But Spirit, I don't have time. Everything is happening so fast, right? It's just rushing by so quickly and my heart is racing and there are colours everywhere and I don't have any time to waste!"

"Rowan-"

"I have to go! I need to go talk to Basil! He knows _everything_!" He turned and started running, back the way he had come. Now that she was paying attention, she noticed the way he was almost flailing across the grass, his arms waving wildly and his legs looking like he was in a constant state of surprise over his own limbs.

"Rowan!" He wasn't coming back. She could probably catch up with him, but what would she be able to do that she hadn't done just now? She sighed. It would be best to go get Shea.

Shea was asleep, curled up on a blanket next to the embers of a fire. Spirit felt bad for waking her up, but she was worried about Rowan. She knelt next to Shea and gently tapped her shoulder. "Shea? Shea, please wake up."

She stirred and her eyes flickered open. As soon as she saw Spirit's face, she frowned in concern. "What's wrong?"

"I think… I think Rowan's sick," she said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Shea rubbed her eyes and sat up. "What happened?"

"He went off with some boys earlier. Then he came running to me babbling nonsense. He said his heart was beating really fast and he was… seeing colours or something."

Shea frowned, and then shook her head with a sigh. "Sounds like he's drunk. Or high."

"What do we do?"

She shrugged. "There's nothing really we _can_ do, except wait for him to sober up. There shouldn't be an long-term effects; he'll just be really sick tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will teach him a lesson. The best thing would be to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't hurt himself." She looked down at her blanket mournfully.

Spiritua quickly said, "You can sleep. I'll take care of him."

"Are you sure? You should get some sleep, too."

She shook her head. "He's my idiot brother. Thank you for your advice." Besides, Rowan didn't want to see Shea right now. He might freak out more if he saw her coming over. On top of that, Shea looked pretty sleepy and she felt bad enough about waking her up in the first place.

"Well… ok. Come and get me if there's any trouble. G'night, Spiritua," Shea said, and then yawned and leaned back into her blanket.

Spiritua wouldn't have been able to sleep now even if she wasn't an angel. Rowan might not be in danger of dying from whatever he'd taken, but he still might wander into the ocean and forget to swim or something. She had nothing better to do tonight, so she might as well watch over him and make sure he was alright. He'd been doing that for her for most of her life; it was about time she returned the favour.

* * *

"Oh man, what an idiot," Zelos said as they set up camp for the night.

"What?" Lloyd said. "Who?"

"Rowan. Taking booze and 'shrooms together. They should be taken _separately_."

Sheena raised her eyebrow. "Let me guess: you know this from experience?"

Zelos shrugged. "I may have experimented a tad in my youth."

"You're twenty-two," Regal said. "You are still in your youth."

"Technicalities," Zelos said with a flippant wave of his hand. "The important thing to remember is that I was very rich, had very little to do in my magnitudes of spare time, and had no authoritative guardians to tell me what to do. Really, this is to be expected."

"Just stay away from children," Sheena said. "You're an awful role model."

* * *

The caravan stopped on the edge of Thoda. The village was small, with a handful of houses, a tavern, a general store, and a small dock with a few boats bobbing in the sea.

"Well, here you are!" Badger said to Kratos. "We've been so happy to add you to our clan!"

Kratos just nodded and smiled stiffly, hoping to get away from these freaks as soon as possible.

"And if we ever come across you again, we will of course stop for you. Because now that our paths have crossed, our souls have become entwined together by the strands of fate."

"Yes. Indeed." Was there anything he could say to speed this conversation along faster? Probably not. Any speaking would probably just encourage him.

"Goodbye, my friend!" Badger said, then swooped forward and wrapped Kratos in a bear hug. Kratos stiffened, taken aback by this sudden turn of events. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been hugged, and he had certainly never received one from a middle-aged man who smelled like a flower garden before.

Not sure how to react to this, he slowly reached up as well as he could and patted Badger on the shoulder. "Yes. Um… goodbye…"

After what felt like an eternity, the strange man finally pried himself off. "And with that, I'm afraid we must be off! Our journey is taking us onward, but my advice for you is to always remember that no matter where you go, there you are!" He waved, and wandered off to the front of the caravan to get it moving again.

Kratos slowly turned to his companions, feeling a very strong urge to shower now. Shea, Spirit, and Pierce all looked to be on the verge of giggling. He glared at them and snapped, "We are never speaking of this again."

Rowan was the only one not reacting, likely because he was too busy crouching behind a bush and being violently ill. This morning, it had been almost impossible to wake him up, and that was only after they found him passed out around the remains of a campfire with a few other guys. After that, he staggered back to the main group complaining of nausea and a pounding headache. Pierce and Shea had tried to lecture him on how he'd been a huge idiot the night before and brought this on himself, but they'd eventually given up and decided to bring it up later when he was less hungover.

"Spiritua, would you please go get your brother?" he asked.

She nodded and hurried off to the bush, returning a minute later with Rowan leaning on her shoulder. His chin rested on his chest and when he reached the group he grumbled, "Couldn't you just leave me there to die?"

"Come on," Kratos said. "We need to find a sailor who will take us to the island."

The town was mostly deserted, but Kratos saw ships at the dock at the end of the main street, so his hopes were high of finding someone to take them across. Or at the very least, they could rent a ship and Rowan could sail it across. Of course, they would have to wait until tomorrow for that option, since there was no way Kratos was letting Rowan navigate a boat in his current condition. "We should check the tavern first," he said. "There may be some sailors in there."

"It's weird," Spirit said, her eyes on the boats. "At this time of day, ships should be out working."

"Maybe they're taking the day off?" Shea suggested.

Spiritua frowned. She clearly didn't think that was a very likely option, but didn't argue it.

When they entered the tavern, they found it, too, devoid of much life to speak off. An elderly bartender sat behind the bar reading a book, while a handful of patrons were scattered about. Most of them were older, and none looked like the sailor type. While Spirit helped Rowan over to a table where he buried his head in his arms, Kratos walked up to the bar.

"Excuse me, sir," he said and the barman put his book down and looked up.

"Eh? What're you folks doing here? We don't have an inn."

"I am aware," Kratos said. "But we're not looking for an inn, we're looking for passage to Thoda Island." Kratos had thought the room was quiet when they walked in, but at his words it reached deathly silent levels. He felt a bit of a chill; something was very wrong.

"We don't go to the island," the barman said coolly. "And you would be wise to follow our example."

Pierce came to his side. "Did something happen to the residents of the island?"

The barman shrugged. "About two months ago, we saw the distress flare from the island. So a bunch of men hopped in their boats to check it out. They never came back. In the morning, another boat went out. It never returned, either. So we don't send any more boats."

Shea and Spirit exchanged a worried look. Kratos was feeling concerned as well. He knew that Cruxis has set up the seals about two months ago, but there was no reason the angels would have killed everyone there. Still, if it was a Cruxis caused event he felt confident that they were in no danger from going to the island themselves.

"It is essential that we go to the island. Is there anyone in town who will give us passage to the island?"

The barman shrugged. "You can ask around. Good luck."

Kratos turned away from the bar to look to his companions. "We might as well ask around town." Which might be difficult, considering that upon entering the town seemed almost deserted.

"Are you sure we want to go to the island?" Pierce said with a frown. "If this place is cursed in some way…"

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Kratos said. "What probably happened was a freak accident and now the townsfolk are just too spooked to check it out."

"If you're sure…"

They headed out the door, leaving Rowan collapsed on the table to wait out his hangover.


	25. Finding a Ship

****Is this... actually... an update? Yes! Yes it is! Sorry for the long hiatus, folks. I don't have a very good excuse other than the standard school, work, and getting caught up in original fiction. But then I got a PM from someone on Friday inquiring as to the deadness of this fic. No! I said. No, it shall _not_ be dead! I am going to finish this damn story! So then I spent all day Saturday writing and BAM new chapter. I hope to keep updating at at least a somewhere frequent basis from here on out. I've had the entire story plotted out in my head for years now and I want to tell it. Thank you everyone for being so patient with me.

Also, you can stalk me on Tumblr on pester me about updating there if you want, rather than sending a formal review/PM here. There's a link on my profile.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Finding a Ship**

Thoda didn't look like a very large town from the outside, but when it came time to knock on every door to try and find someone to take them to the island, it felt huge. Kratos might have been more patient with the endeavour if they actually had any luck, but by the end of an hour they still had no progress towards getting to Thoda Island. Every door they knocked on either went unanswered or got slammed in their face the moment they mentioned going to the island. He found it odd how deserted the town seemed to be. No one had said anything about a disaster befalling Thoda itself, so he had to wonder where all the townsfolk had gone.

"This is pointless," Shea said, slumping down on a fence. "No one is going to give us a lift. I say it's time to just borrow a boat."

Pierce scowled. "You would suggest that. I don't think I can protest that solution enough. If the Chosen went around stealing people's boats, the entire religion of Martelism could get a bad reputation as being full of thieves. This would be against our interests."

"Nice excuse," Shea said. "But admit it. You're just queasy about the idea of stealing."

"I don't see how being unwilling to steal is something to be ashamed of."

"Nevertheless," Kratos said, "we do need to get to Thoda, and if stealing a boat is the only way, we'll have to do it. We will return it, of course."

"Just like we returned the last ship?" Pierce asked.

"That doesn't count," Shea said. "That was a Desian ship. They deserved to lose it."

"Yes, but we didn't set out intending to abandon the ship at sea, and I'd rather not do the same to the boat of an innocent fisherman. These boats are these people's livelihoods. If they lose their ship, they'll starve. Do we want to risk that?"

"No one here is a sailor," Spiritua suddenly said. She'd spent the last few minutes staring down the street to the harbour, watching the ships bob in the surf.

"Rowan is," Shea said. "I mean, he's not here right now, but he'll be fine to sail by tomorrow."

Spiritua shook her head. "No… the people in this town. They're not the sailors. We need to find the sailors and we might have more luck."

"What do you mean?" Pierce asked, frowning.

Spiritua shifted her weight and bit her lip. Her words came out clipped and determined as she forced herself to explain clearly. "The people we met were mostly older or mothers with infants. There were no young working-age people. The boats are still sitting at the dock; it's the middle of the day, so they should be out at sea right now. But no one seems very upset about the fact that all the working people are gone and no one seems broke. So they must have all gone somewhere else to work and earn money to bring home."

Pierce nodded slowly. "You're right. I think we should head back to the tavern and discuss this with the barman."

"Hopefully he'll be less tacit this time," Shea grumbled, standing up.

They started walking back through town. Kratos said, "If all the sailors _have_ left town, we may be justified in borrowing one of their boats."

Pierce frowned. "…If we must, I suppose."

When they reached the tavern, they found Rowan sitting up, talking with a young man sitting across from him. Sitting up might have been an exaggeration; his face was supported by his hand and he looked about as enthusiastic as a dead man, but it was an improvement.

While Pierce went to discuss the boat issue with the barman, the rest of them headed over to where Rowan was sitting. Rowan's new acquaintance looked up at them as the group approached the table. "Hi," he said. "You're Rowan's friends, right? He said you'd be coming back soon."

Kratos eyed the stranger suspiciously. "Yes… and you are?"

He jumped to his feet and stuck his hand out. "Todd Price. I live around here."

Kratos shook his hand slowly. He noticed something that Rowan, in his hung-over stupor, probably hadn't: this kid was a half-elf. That may explain the suspicious glances the rest of the patrons were giving them, if this wasn't just some local boy. "Well, Mr. Price, may I ask what you're doing here?"

Todd shrugged. "Nothing, really. I just came in to get some lunch and noticed Rowan sitting here. This is a pretty small town where everyone knows everybody else and I didn't recognize him so I just came over to talk to him. He told me you guys were on an important mission, but didn't go into much detail."

Kratos glanced at Rowan, who had his eyes closed while his face still rested in his hand. He did appear to be conscious, though, as he mumbled, "So… you guys find a ship?"

"No," Shea said. "Well, there are ships, but we can't find anyone to sail them and Pierce won't let us steal one."

At that moment, Pierce returned with a grim look on his face. "I found out where all the townsfolk have gone." The others looked at him expectantly and he said, "The Southern Ranch."

There was a moment of silence. Kratos spent it slowly building up dread, just waiting for one of them to suggest that they raid the ranch to save the prisoners. Not only would that be phenomenally dangerous, but also he didn't think Mithos would have any more patience with him if he led another ranch infiltration. Surely Pierce would concede that the only logical solution now was to just take a boat. If the owners were at the ranch, they probably wouldn't notice anyway.

Todd, though, looked at everyone's forlorn expressions with confusion. "Why the long faces? If you desperately need a sailor, I know someone at the ranch. If I asked, I'm sure she'd be willing to come help you guys out."

Now it was the rest of the group's turn to stare in confusion, save for Rowan, who seemed to be only half-following the conversation. Spiritua sat next to him, going back and forth between confusion with Todd and concern for Rowan.

Shea said, "You suggest we just… walk up to the ranch and ask the Desians to let someone go? You think they'll agree if we say pretty please?"

"Ask the Desians? What are you – oh. You guys are from up north, aren't you?"

Pierce nodded. "Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Desians aren't the bad guys down here anymore. A few years back this Desian called Veris overthrew the last Cardinal and established a new order. Desians help us out now!"

Kratos frowned. He was pretty sure that that wasn't actually how Veris had come into power. As far as he knew, the previous Cardinal had died of a heart attack and Mithos had appointed Veris to take over. And if any Desians anywhere were helping humans out, Kratos was certain he'd have heard of it. Mithos would have thrown one hell of a tantrum.

"For ages we've struggled on the brink of starvation," Todd said. "But now the ranch is actually, well, a ranch. They've got fields of crops and livestock and stuff. A lot of people have gone there to find work. Like I said, I know a sailor who went there after the fish stopped biting. She's a lot braver than most of the schmucks around here. If I asked her for a favour, I'm sure she'd give you guys a lift."

"And why would you want to go to the trouble of helping us?" Kratos asked.

"Rowan mentioned you were on an important mission. If it's really important, I want to help."

"If the ranch really is benign," Pierce said, "I don't see any harm in checking it out."

It was out of their way, and Kratos highly doubted it was really as harmless as Todd believed, but he had to admit his curiosity was piqued. "At the very least, it could be informative. If we don't have any luck, though, I will have to insist that we borrow a boat without asking."

Pierce nodded. "I can agree with that. It's undesirable, but might be necessary."

Spiritua gently patted Rowan's arm and softly said, "Rowan? Are you paying attention? We're going to check out the ranch."

He responded with a grunt.

"It will take a few days to walk to the ranch," Todd said.

"There's no point sitting around here," Kratos said. "We should get going now."

They started heading to the exit, but Rowan stayed put. Pierce went back and shook his shoulder. "Rowan, come on. We're leaving."

Rowan groaned, and then said, "Just… leave me here and let me die, ok?"

Pierce grabbed his arm and pulled him, staggering, to his feet. "No, we're not leaving you here. And maybe in the future you'll remember this when you consider getting drunk again."

Rowan just groaned again and followed the others out the door.

* * *

Zelos sniffed the air as they walked into Izoold. "Ah… it might be in a totally different location, but it still smells like fish. Good to see that some things never change."

"I hope we don't have as much trouble finding a boat this time," Lloyd said. "I really wish we had the Rheairds right now."

"Don't worry, bud," Zelos said. "I've got something that will make everything go a lot easier."

"And what is that?" Sheena asked.

"Copious amounts of money!"

Colette said, "But money won't help us if there are no boats to take."

Zelos patted her on the shoulder. "Colette, my dear, one thing I have learned in my long and ridiculously wealthy life is that if you throw enough money at it, any problem will eventually go away."

"Colette," Regal said, "I would advise you _not_ to take life advice from Zelos."

"Oh, ok, Regal!"

The group received a fair share of stares as they walked through the town. That wasn't surprising, considering they were world-renown saviours of the planet. The small town of Izoold probably didn't get very many celebrities.

"If all else fails," Lloyd said as they approached the docks, "maybe we can luck out and get another letter delivery mission from Lyla."

Colette frowned. "But Lloyd… I just remembered! We never delivered the _first_ letter she gave us."

"Oh. Huh. You're right." He patted the pockets of his jacket, wondering if perhaps he still had that letter on him. "I guess after we got to Palmacosta, we got so caught up with Dorr and the Book of Regeneration and the ranch it completely slipped our minds…."

"Oh, no, I hope Lyla isn't too mad," Colette said

"What's this about a letter?" Zelos asked.

"Oh," Lloyd said, "the last time we were here, we were able to get passage on a boat by agreeing to take a love letter from this Lyla woman to some guy called Aifread. But we never found Aifread and the letter itself got kinda lost during the course of the journey."

Sitting at the dock was a ship. Lloyd's spirits rose; he didn't think big ships passed through Izoold that often. He'd been expecting to have to wait around for passage to show up, or have to take a smaller one and stop somewhere else to get to Palmacosta.

A sailor walked past, and Regal stopped him for a moment. "Excuse me, sir, can you tell me where this ship is bound?"

"Palmacosta," the young man replied, and then moved on.

"We should find the owner of the ship," Presea said, "and request passage."

"I wonder where we can find him," Zelos said. "We should head back-"

"You!"

Seven heads whipped around at the sound of an angry female voice. Marching towards them was none other than Lyla, fury radiating from her face. "How dare you show your faces here! After you ran off with my letter and then never delivered it?"

"Well," Zelos said. "So much for her not holding a grudge."

"Oh, no," Colette said, clutching her hands together with worry. "We're so sorry, Lyla. We were going to deliver the letter, we really were, but then things came up and… and…"

"I don't want your excuses," she snapped, putting her hand on her hip. "I want my money."

Lloyd frowned. "Your… money?"

"That's right! You were supposed to deliver the letter to Aifread to tell him to pay me back for the money I lent him. But you never did so now I still haven't gotten my payment back!"

Lloyd stared at her in confusion. "It… wasn't a love letter?"

"A love letter?" Lyla rolled her eyes. "Heck no."

"Calm down, Miss," Regal said. "I'm sure it was a simple oversight by my companions. You must understand that they were very preoccupied saving the world."

"I don't want excuses; I want my money!"

"We don't have time for this," Kratos said abruptly. "I'm sorry for your loss, but it really is not our problem. We need to book passage on this ship so we can get to Palmacosta as soon as possible."

Lyla crossed her arms. "Is that so? Because I'll give you three guesses who's funding this ship."

"Oh, great," Zelos groaned.

"That's right," Lyla said with a smirk. "You want on this ship? That will cost you twenty thousand Gald per head, _plus_ what Aifread owes me."

"What?" Sheena said. "That's not fair!"

"It's alright," Regal said. "Between Zelos and me, I'm sure we can afford it."

"Hey, what?" Zelos said, turning his head to Regal. "Why are you brining me into this?"

Sheena rolled her eyes. "Weren't you telling us just ten minutes ago about being fabulously wealthy?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't get to be fabulously wealthy by _spending _my money at every opportunity."

"We need to get to Palmacosta," Kratos said, giving him a death glare. "And your wealth is required." The tone of Kratos' voice quite clearly conveyed that not only was the wealth required, but it would be taken by force if Zelos didn't hand it over willingly.

Zelos scowled. "Fine…"

"How much does Aifread owe you?" Regal asked.

"One hundred thousand Gald."

Zelos did a double take. "One – one hundred thousand?"

Kratos glared at him.

Zelos slumped his shoulders. "…Fine. We'll pay. Happily."

Fifteen minutes later, Lyla was walking away with a skip in her step, counting her money. The group sat on some empty crates, waiting for the ship to be ready to go. Zelos was pouting, while Colette kicked her heels against the crate she was sitting on with a contented smile on her face.

Zelos scowled at her. "You wouldn't be so chipper if you had to be the one to fork over the Gald, Colette."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just happy that Lyla isn't holding a grudge against us anymore. Maybe if you ask her nicely she'll give it back?"

"Hm…" Zelos said, stroking his chin. This would have been more effective if he had a goatee, but unfortunately Zelos was incapable of growing a manly beard. This was probably for the best.

* * *

"So, Rowan, how do you feel?" Shea asked that evening with a smirk.

Rowan, who had stopped feeling like the living embodiment of nausea by lunchtime, just rolled his eyes. They were sitting down for the night after a long day of hiking through the valleys along the southern coast. The nice thing was that they didn't need to actually cross a mountain range to get to the ranch, but they did have to go out of their way to find the passes through the low mountains. Their camp that evening was in one such pass, with steep slopes on either side of them.

It wasn't going to be the most comfortable camp tonight, though. The ground was hard and the grass yellow and scratchy. After a long day of walking, though, Rowan would have laid down on a porcupine.

He lay on his back staring up at the sky, and ran his fingers through the dead grass and dry dirt. "Man, you weren't kidding when you said the soil around here was crap."

"It's notably worse in the last ten years up north, too," Pierce said. "Not quite as bad as here though, where the rocky soil has never been that great."

"It's like this everywhere," Kratos said. "The world itself is dying. That's why we so desperately need a Regeneration."

Spiritua nodded, the weight of the world hanging on her tired face.

"I don't get it," Rowan said, not bothering to even raise his head. "You said the Desians have their ranch where crops actually grow. What, are they using funky half-elf magic to enchant the soil into giving better crops?"

Todd shook his head with a laugh. "No, much more mundane than that. They've just got some fertilizer. They developed it in the Iselia region, apparently. So it helps enough, but it's not like some radical magic fix."

"Huh," Rowan said. He didn't like the way all this pressure was crushing Spirit. She was just a kid; she shouldn't have to be worried about the fate of the world. Their dad had told Rowan to look after her, but all he could do was sit back and watch as she steadily lost her humanity. It made him want to punch someone. Unfortunately, everyone he wanted to punch was an angel and could probably smite him.

Shea was busy clearing a patch of grass away to make room for a campfire. "Rowan, can you go get some firewood? It shouldn't be too difficult – just don't stress your arm."

"Yeah, sure." Even after saying it, he took about thirty seconds to actually sit up. When he finally did push himself vertical again, he cast a quick glance in Shea's direction. She wasn't looking at him anymore, and he hurriedly averted his gaze in case she looked back. He got up and headed for the nearest tree, wondering if eventually Spirit's angel powers would give her the ability of time travel. If so, he could use it to go back to the night where he tried to talk to Shea and tackle his past self before the idiot went in and made everything awkward between them.

"Hey, Rowan." In his musings, he hadn't noticed Todd following him.

"Oh. Hey."

Todd was another person that Rowan felt awkward around. He had been fine with him all morning while in his haze, but around lunchtime he'd looked over and stared at him, his perception clear for the first time. Then he'd noticed the pointy ears and had asked bluntly, "Are you a half-elf?"

"Yes," Todd had replied, not looking up from the sandwich he'd been eating. "Problem?"

Rowan stared. Was there a problem? He could tell all the others were watching him too. What did Pierce and Kratos think about half-elves? He'd never really asked. After growing up in his village, he'd taken it as a given that all humans hated half-elves as a matter of course, but then he'd met Shea who seemed to think they were just like humans. And of course Spirit didn't have a hateful bone in her body. Was Pierce judging him for disliking half-elves? Was Kratos? Although, he was pretty sure there wasn't much he could do to lower Kratos' opinion of him further than it already was.

While all this was running through his head, everyone else was still staring at him. So he just muttered, "…No," and went back to his lunch.

"You can't avoid me forever, you know," Todd said now, stepping into pace beside him.

"I'm not avoiding you."

"It must be tough for you, trying to avoid both Shea and me at the same time."

"I'm not avoiding Shea either!"

"Sure you're not, buddy," Todd said with a knowing smirk.

Rowan scowled at him and then stared at the ground.

"You know, being a half-elf isn't contagious."

They reached the nearest tree, but Rowan paused his firewood gathering to give Todd a confused look. "Huh?"

"You're not going to be contaminated with elfishness just by being near me."

"I know _that_." The tree was half-dead, with only a few roots still clinging to the dry earth. It leaned to the side like a broken mast, making it easy to reach up and snap off the lowest branches.

"Well, whatever your problem with my race is, you'd better deal with it fast because I'm going to be with you guys for the next few days."

Rowan curled his fingers around the dry wood in his hands, flakes of bark crumbling into his palms. "You want to know what my problems are with half-elves?"

"I'd love to. Because everyone in Thoda seems to have the same problems and I would be thrilled to hear what they are."

Rowan whirled around, branches still in hand. He should probably put them down, because he didn't think the others would be happy if used them to beat Todd's annoying face. "To start off, I've got _fifty_ of them. On my back. Where they whipped me half to death."

Todd kept his face level. "I'm not the one who did that."

"And that's just scratching the surface!" He dropped the branches to allow himself the ability to wave his hands in agitation. "You say this ranch down here is all nice and dandy, but you'll have to forgive me for being sceptical because I've spent time in one up north. Do you have any idea what a human ranch _really_ is?"

"Yes," Todd said coolly. "I told you, the way the ranch is now is new-"

"Shut up. You don't. Because you've never been a prisoner in one, and you never will because you're a half-elf. And ok, maybe humans do treat half-elves like shit, but I know for damn sure that however bad you half-elves think you have it out here, it is _nothing_ like what they do to humans in their ranches." He punched his fist into his palm, which helped vent only a negligible amount of anger. He wrapped up his rant by shouting, "Half-elves murdered my father! So yeah, I think I have a reason to hate them!"

Todd was impassive. Slowly, he knelt and picked up the branches Rowan had dropped. "Humans killed my parents, too. So I guess we're even."

"No. We're not." He punched Todd in the face.

Todd shouted and stumbled backwards, dropping the wood he'd so helpfully picked up. "What the hell was that for?" he cried with his hand over his cheek,

"We're a bit closer to being even now." He picked up the firewood and started walking back to camp.

"You're nuts. It's not like I'm a representative for my whole species, you know."

Rowan shrugged. "I know."

Todd shook his head in wonder. "Are you just going to punch _every_ half-elf you meet from now on?"

Rowan thought for a moment. "I beat up the last one I met. We're cool now, though."

"You have issues."

He shrugged again. "Maybe. Hey, so can you do magic?"

"Uh… yeah, a little bit." He seemed taken off guard by the sudden change in topic, and elaborated slightly. "Not a whole lot, because I've never had anyone to teach me. I can do a handful of basic spells."

"That's pretty cool. I've always kind of wished I could throw fireballs around…" Everything that he wanted to say to Todd about the subject of half-elves had been said now. He'd even gotten punching him out of the way. Now it wouldn't hang over the back of his mind every time he talked to the guy, threatening to break forth in a tirade of hatred. Maybe it was good, then, that he'd talked to Shea. Now he knew where he stood with her and didn't have to waste valuable time wondering if she liked him or not like some brain dead teenage girl.

"I don't think I'd trust you to have fireballs," Todd said. "You seem to be pretty flippant throwing punches, so I think the last thing we need is for you to have fireballs to throw, too."

Rowan laughed. "You're probably right."

* * *

Based on the stars, it was probably around midnight. Of course, Rowan couldn't tell for certain because the stars were in a different position this far south. It wasn't right, he thought, for stars to move. It would be more convenient for everyone if they would just sit still.

He shouldn't be looking at them at all, really. He ought to be asleep, like everyone else was. But the ground was hard and he was anxious about visiting the upcoming ranch. Was it really as different as Todd said? What if everything that had happened in Cleopolica happened all over again? He liked to think that he was over everything that had happened, but twice now when the prospect of going to another ranch had come up, and his heart rate quickened and his palms turned clammy. It made him hate the Desians even more to think that they could affect him so negatively even after they were dead.

He sighed, staring up at the stars with his eyes wide awake. They were going to have to walk again tomorrow and he didn't want to be so tired. They'd gotten spoiled from getting a free lift with that caravan. The caravan… he groaned and buried his face in his hands, not even wanting to think about how stupid that last night had been. He couldn't remember many details, but the general impression of the blur that was his memory was that it had been incredibly stupid.

"You should go to bed."

Rowan almost jolted out of his blanket when he heard Spiritua's voice. He looked over and saw her sitting cross-legged, watching him with a slight smile. Of course she was still up. When it came to deciding who would take the night watch, Kratos volunteered to stay up all night, claiming he could do so because he was an angel, and then he had promptly gone to sleep as soon as the others were out to let Spiritua stay up all night. Rowan knew she had to stay up all night anyway, but he still felt bad for leaving her sitting awake all alone all night.

"Can't," he said, sitting up. "Just… stuff on my mind."

"Are you scared about the ranch?"

"No." It was sometimes inconvenient how accurately she could guess what he was thinking. She crawled across the camp and came over to sit next to him, resting her hand on his arm.

"We probably don't even have to go in. Todd can just go find his friend and then we can head back."

"Yeah," Rowan said, sounding more confident than he felt.

"Do you believe that the Desians down here have really changed?"

"No."

She sighed. "Me neither. I want to, but… I just can't."

"Let's just hope we can get this over with and hurry up with breaking the seals."

"Yeah…" She looked into the dying fire with sad eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm… I'm kind of scared of breaking the seals." She glanced to his face, worried that he would judge her. "Kratos says that after the next one, I'll lose my sense of touch, and after that, my voice. But he won't say what the final thing is. And I'm scared."

Rowan frowned. "Do you still want to continue this journey?"

"It isn't my choice."

"That's not what I asked." He was only here for Spiritua. Everyone kept saying that the Regeneration would save the world, but while he might be convinced of angels now, he still wasn't sold on the whole goddess thing. There were way too many problems in the world for them all to be fixed by some magical journey. So if Spiritua decided she didn't want to continue, he'd take her right back to Luin without any other argument, Kratos be damned.

"I… I do," she finally said. "It's my destiny. It's like what you said the other night… I know you were out of it, but you did have a point. Life is simpler when you don't fight the flow. This is the destiny I was given, and it's my duty to fulfill it."

Rowan frowned. "I said _what_?"

"You said a lot of things. Most of them didn't make sense."

He buried his face in his palms. "Oh, man, I was such an idiot…"

"The most clear thing you said was something about how nothing really matters. In the long run, I suppose you're right. We're all just tiny humans, and there are so many people suffering. What right do I have to complain about the life I've been given? So many people don't even _have_ a life anymore. This is what I have, and it will be easier for everyone if I follow the road before me."

Rowan raised his head from his hands and stared at Spirit. His frown had turned into complete disgust. "Did I really say all of that?"

"Pretty much."

"Man, it's all _bullshit_."

She stared at him in surprise.

"You're reminding me and now it's starting to come back to me. All this crap about a river and fate and stuff…" He shook his head. "I was such an idiot to buy into that." What had he seen in those guys? They were fun to hang out with, he guessed. He'd never had real close friends his own age before, so he had been drawn into their shenanigans and then before he knew it, it had turned into a parade of bullshit.

"I don't know if it is impossible to fight fate. Hell, I don't even know if fate really exists! But from my perspective right now, it's like this. Twenty years ago, we didn't exist. Sixty-ish years from now, we'll be dead. That's _nothing_ when you think about how people like Benedict have been around for a thousand years. We've got this tiny sliver of time to live our lives, and I don't want to just surf my fate all the way to the end."

Spiritua cocked her head to the side. "I… see?"

He sighed, and shook his head. "All I'm trying to say is that this is your life, and it's the only one you're gonna get, so you should do what you want with it. Screw the grand destiny of the world or whatever. Who knows where your 'destiny' will lead the world? Maybe we won't like what happens next. So just decide what _you_ want to do, and don't do shit just because some guy with fancy wings told you that you have to."

Spiritua looked up at him with thoughtful eyes, and then leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. "I want to help people. But I don't want to give up my humanity to do it."

Rowan nodded slowly. "That's what you want? To help people without totally becoming an angel? Ok. Then that's what we'll work towards."

"I don't think I can do both of those things."

"Well, you certainly can't with that attitude." He reached over and patted her knee. "That's going to be our new plan, ok? Ignore what Kratos says about your solemn duty or whatever the crap. This is between just you and me. We have our own goal, and that's to fix this world without you becoming an angel."

"I don't think we can…"

"Like hell we can't. I don't know how we're going to do it, but we will. I won't let you down, Spirit. Just you wait and see."

* * *

Finally they were able to board the ship. Lloyd immediately ran to the far side to look over the edge at the waves sloshing against the hull. He'd never been a ship this big before, and was eager to explore every nook and cranny of it.

"Wow, Lloyd, look how big this ship is!"

He turned to see Colette leaning on the railing next to him, the sea breeze blowing her hair back. She closed her eyes and smiled, leaning over the edge and breathing in the sea air. "This is so exciting."

"I'm just glad we'll get to Palmacosta soon."

The sails were unfurled and the ship slowly drifted away from the dock. Lloyd turned his head to watch Izoold slip away behind them. _Don't worry, Professor. We're on our way_.


	26. Your Friendly Neighbourhood Desians

I've just been writing non-stop for the last few days. Feels good. Also I just realized I can add cover art to stories now. So I threw together a quick cover with Spiritua on it! By the way, here's some writing advice for you: never name a character Shea. The number of times I've written 'she' instead and it's technically correct so doesn't get caught but causes confusion as to which 'she' is speaking is too damn high.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Your Friendly Neighbourhood Desians **

Rowan noticed the difference in the Southern Ranch the moment it came into view. Or rather, the moment that it _didn't_ suddenly appear. They eased into it, first seeing fields of crops and farmers spread out across the yellow-brown plains at least fifteen minutes before the buildings of the ranch itself came into view. There were no fences. There gates had been torn down and instead lines of crops ran right up to the front yard.

Desians patrolled the area, but there were hardly any of them compared to the Cleopolica Ranch; they bore no weapons, and their heads were bare. Every Desian they passed gave them smiles and nods, and some waved and asked if they were here looking for work. Rowan barely resisted the urge to jump and attack them on sight. A lifetime of fear and oppression, culminating in his treatment at the Cleopolica Ranch, had created an instinct in him to hate the very sight of those uniforms. Just being around them brought back painful and unpleasant memories, and it made him sick to see so many humans happily working alongside them. He didn't know what the Desians were playing at, but he didn't trust them one bit.

"I don't like this," Rowan said. "It's not right."

"I agree," Kratos said. "I have no illusions that this ranch is as benign as everyone reports. However, it would be disadvantageous to look into it. We need to find Todd's friend and get out with as little drama as possible."

"Why?" Rowan demanded. "If these bastard Desians are tricking people and hurting them – which I'm certain they are – we should kill them."

"This is a delicate situation," Pierce said. "We don't have the resources to bring down an entire ranch again. I'm still amazed we made it out of Cleopolica in one piece. We can't go making waves and causing an incident here. We need to get in and out without making a scene so Spiritua can complete her journey and rid the world of Desians once and for all."

Rowan scowled but didn't argue. He understood that the others didn't want to risk a fight again. He didn't like it, but he understood.

They reached the main building. It looked suspiciously similar to the one in Cleopolica. He assumed all the ranches were built on the same general design, but this did very little to calm Rowan down. The setting looking practically identical to the place where he'd received several days of torture made him jumpy and his fingers itched to grab his rings just to make sure he could defend himself at a moment's notice.

"Hello!" said a female voice. They turned to see a middle-aged woman walking toward them. She had curly blonde hair and a sun-tanned face, and though her floral-print dress was old and patched in a few places, it was obviously hers and not prison-issued. "My name is Helen. Are you folks here looking for work?"

"Not exactly," Kratos said. "We're looking for someone."

"A friend of mine named Martha," Todd said. "Do you happen to know where she is?"

"Martha?" Helen put her finger to her lips as she thought. "Hm… I know there's a Martha who works in group D. I think they're on break right now. I can take you to them if you like."

"That would be very helpful, thanks!" Todd said.

"Just follow me." She led the way with the group tagging along behind. Rowan didn't like her. He didn't like anyone who was so happy about being at a ranch, really. It was a pretty superficial reason to dislike someone because she probably had no idea what ranches were like up north, but still he disliked her.

Then he noticed her hand. On the back of her left hand was a red gem, identical to the one on his own. Except, he was wearing a tacky bracelet that he had been told was the only thing keeping him from dying from it. "Helen," he said, "what's that on your hand?"

"Oh, this?" she said, raising her hand. "It's just an ID gem. All of us who work here have them, so that outsiders can't wander in and take advantage of free meals without doing any work in the fields."

"Oh, really?" Rowan said. "Because-"

Kratos shot him a look that quite clearly told him to shut up and not press the issue. Rowan let himself trail off, not wanting to get into a fight with Kratos right now. There wasn't much point in pressing the issue now. If he needed any more proof that the ranch wasn't all that it appeared, this was it. He knew that those gems weren't safe, but just coming out and stating it to a complete stranger wouldn't be very helpful.

"So, do you like working at the ranch, Helen?" Shea asked. She had seen the gem, too, and she was just as certain about what it really entailed as Rowan was.

"Yes," Helen said. "It's definitely hard work, but it pays so much better than anything I could have hoped for back home. My kids are living with my parents in our home village, and it's only thanks to the work I get here that I'm able to put food on their table. I'm eternally thankful to Cardinal Veris and all the other Cardinals who have revolutionized the ranch system." She smiled fondly and glanced up at the main building. "When I was a child, I lived in terror of this place. And now, I have it to thank for my life. Funny how things change, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Sure," Rowan said. He saw how the others kept glaring at him, though. Right, right, he understood. This was a delicate situation and he couldn't go around accusing Desians of being murderous bastards without any proof. The people at this ranch would not take kindly to that.

"What do you mean by 'Cardinals'?" Pierce asked. "The plural, I mean. I was under the impression that Cardinal Veris was the only one to implement a peaceful ranch."

"Oh, no," Helen said. "He's the only on this continent, but there are several others in the west that are operated like this. The famine isn't nearly as bad out west, though, so the people there aren't as willing to go to the ranches to work. They just don't need to. We frequently transfer workers from this ranch out west to help keep them open, or else they might go back to the awful way they used to be."

"I… see," Pierce said.

Rowan saw too. It was all starting to come together. He'd be willing to bet that wherever the 'transferred' people got sent, it wasn't to a ranch nearly as nice as this one. This whole ranch was a fancy piece of bait to lure them in, and the stupid people had no idea there was a deadly hook behind it.

They reached a long, low building. Inside, there were a few long tables that ran from end to end, filled with clusters of people sitting on benches.

"Martha," Helen said, walking over to a woman sitting by herself with a beer, "I think these people are here to see you."

She looked back over her shoulder. She was about the same age as Helen, with greying brown hair and lined face. She grinned when she saw them. "Oh, hello, Todd," she said. "What brings you here? Finally caved and looking for a job?"

"Not exactly," he said. "These people desperately need a ride to Thoda Island. As you can imagine, they're having trouble finding a lift in town. Any way you can spare your time to take them?"

"Please, ma'am," Pierce said. "It's incredibly important that we get there."

"The island, huh?" Martha said. "Sure, I can swing that. Can it wait until tomorrow? I've still got work today and don't want to just take off."

"That is acceptable," Kratos said. "We can spend the night here and depart in the morning."

"Yeah, great," Rowan muttered, not at all keen on spending the night at a ranch.

"Thanks a lot," Shea said. "We really appreciate this."

* * *

"How long until we reach Palmacosta?" Lloyd asked, staring out over the bow.

"A couple days," Regal replied. "And we're stopping in Flanoir first."

"What?" Lloyd said, jerking his head around. "We don't have time for that!"

"It's not our decision," Regal said. "The ship needs to stop to unload cargo and pick up more supplies. It won't be too much of a delay."

"Hmph," Lloyd pouted, slouched against the railing.

Kratos seemed largely unsympathetic. "How terrible for you, Lloyd. An unwanted delay in an important mission. Must be torture."

Lloyd shifted his eyes and glared at him. "Oh, shut up, Dad."

* * *

A little while later, Rowan was by himself. The others were chatting with workers about the ranch and trying to find out more about how it was run, but Rowan found the whole thing sickening. Everyone here was wearing Exspheres, and no one seemed at all concerned about the subject of transfers. Whenever the topic was breeched, the workers quickly shifted it away. Unable to deal with it anymore, Rowan had wandered off. He was hoping to find some sort of secluded spot where he could sit and wait without being reminded he was at a ranch, but that seemed impossible.

He had rounded one of the buildings when he heard a sudden voice call out, "Well, howdy, Ginger! Fancy meeting you here."

Rowan spun around. He recognized that voice; he'd heard it only a few days ago. Sure enough, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed and a grin on her face was Rebecca.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. She still wore her ragged green dress, but at least she had acquired shoes.

"I could ask the same of you," she said.

"Also, Ginger: still not my name."

She shrugged. "It suits you." She pushed back against the wall and straightened up. "To be honest, I'm here because of you. After you said that Desians are evil, I decided to come down here and check the ranch out. I've met villagers down south who always spoke highly of the ranch, so I wanted to see what you were talking about. Just based on what can be seen here, if you think these guys are evil, you're probably the kind of guy who would call it child abuse when your mom makes you clean your room."

Rowan bristled with indignation. "Not all Desians are like this! And besides, this whole thing is a lie! They-"

"Whoa, whoa," Rebecca said, holding up her hand. "Hold your horses, Ginger. I wasn't done yet. I was going to say that even though everything here looks hunky-dory, I get the feeling that it isn't. There's… something. Something isn't right."

"Right, exactly!" Rowan said. "It's this whole transfer business."

"Yes," Rebecca said. "No one wants to talk about it. They just smile and wave it off, but from what I can tell, no one who gets transferred is ever heard from again. But no one cares about this! And those gems on their hands seem super fishy to me. Surely there's an easier ID method than implanting a bloody rock in your hand. I mean, give them a stupid ID card like normal people."

"Exactly," Rowan said. "Something terrible is happening here and no one seems to care! And my friends are so worried about not causing a scene and they just want to get in and out and not do anything!" It just made him so _mad_. He wasn't usually one to support going to extreme lengths and risking their lives to help every random person they came across, but this was different. This was a ranch, and after spending time in the one in Cleopolica he felt like he had a personal connection here. Ranches were a special kind of evil, especially ones that pretended to be good.

"We need to figure out what's going on here," Rebecca said. "If we find out exactly where the transferred people are being sent, and get, like, proof and stuff, we can convince everyone to blow this joint and get out of here."

"Yes," Rowan said, his excitement growing. Finally someone who wasn't content to just sit back and let this happen. "Do you have any idea where to start?"

"I know that when people get transferred they go to a certain room first to… I think they say it's picking up paperwork and instructions and stuff. But, they leave right from there. No one knows for sure what goes on in there. I've tried to get in, but the door is always locked and the only window is too high up for me to sneak through."

Rowan nodded. "Alright, we should check it out. If you stand on my shoulders, do you think you could get in?"

"Probably," she said. "Come on, I'll lead the way."

They took off, venturing even farther away from where the rest of Rowan's companions were resting. Going to tell them what he was up to wouldn't be a good idea, since they'd protest and try to stop him from going.

"I see you finally got some shoes," Rowan said.

"Oh, yeah," Rebecca said. "One good thing about this place. My feet were getting really sore."

"Why were you in high heels in the wilderness in the first place?"

"Look at what I'm wearing," she said, grabbing the hem of her skirt and holding it out, showing off the pretty lace trim. "Do I _look_ like I was planning on hiking across the plains?"

"I don't know, maybe you're a sheltered rich girl who has no idea what proper hiking attire is. You said yourself you've lived a sheltered life."

Rebecca made a face. "Don't be ridiculous. I'm not that stupid. I wasn't planning on going on some wilderness adventure. I just… I wanted to go check something out, so I wandered away from the village I was visiting, and I got lost. And now I have no idea how to find my way back and I'm really pissed off. I ditched the heels because they kept sinking into the grass."

"What was the village called?" Rowan asked. "Maybe I can direct you to it."

She shook her head. "I don't remember; that's the problem."

"You can't even remember the name of the village? Wow, you _are_ stupid, aren't you?"

She raised her hand and thwacked him across the back of his head. "No, I'm not."

"Ow!" Rowan said, rubbing the back of his head. "That wasn't a very good argument!"

"Want me to make it again? I'll try harder this time."

"No, that's fine," Rowan grumbled. "You're very smart."

She smiled. "Why thank you. So what's your story? I keep running into you around Desians. You're not some rogue Desian slayer or something, are you?"

Rowan laughed. "I wish. Just my rotten luck that our journey keeps bringing us close to them."

"A journey, huh?" Rebecca said. "That sounds impressive. I guess you're not just on a trip to your grandma's, right? I don't think that's epic enough to refer to as a 'journey'."

"Nah. Well… you know about the Chosen of Mana, right?"

She stared at him for a second. "Duh."

"Right. Well, that's what my group is. Uh, obviously not the entire group is the Chosen, but you know what I mean."

Rebecca nodded. "Alright, I get it. You're regenerating the world. That's pretty cool. This word desperately needs a regeneration, if you ask me."

Rowan nodded. Even around the ranch, the grass was dead and the dirt was bone dry. There were droughts and food shortages all over the world, but Rowan wouldn't have considered the situation up north to be an outright famine. Here, though… he had never seen a more compelling argument for Spiritua's journey. He only hoped that the regeneration was a real thing and not some Martelism fairy tale. If it turned out that the true regeneration of the world was some symbolic faith and spiritualism thing, he was going to have to knife somebody.

"It's just over here," Rebecca said, pointing to a small wing at the back of the main building. There was a sign over the door and a single window set high in the wall.

Rowan looked around. Nobody else was back here. "Alright. I'll lift you up and keep watch out here."

Rebecca nodded. "Ok. Sorry, I'd give you a lift so you can come with me, but I think you're too heavy for me."

"That's fine. I'll give a shout if someone's coming." He leaned back against the wall and cupped his fingers. Rebecca planted her foot on his hands and grabbed his shoulders, and with great exertion he lifted her up. His weak arm screamed in protest and shook with pain, but she managed to get her feet planted on his shoulders without toppling backwards.

"Damn," he grunted. "Couldn't have still been barefoot for this?" He raised his arms to grab her legs and help her balance. The hem of her dress smacked him in the face.

"Oi! Eyes out of my skirt, pervert."

"Geeze, I'm trying to help you!"

"Watch out, I'm going to smash the window."

Rowan squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head, and heard a smash above him as Rebecca drove the hilt of her sword through the glass. Luckily most of the shards fell inside the room.

"How are you going to get out?" Rowan asked.

"Don't worry about it; looks like there's boxes and crates and stuff in here. I'll climb them out."

She pushed down on his shoulders and pulled herself up through the window. She stepped on his head and then disappeared through the opening. He heard a thump as she landed inside.

"Everything ok?" he called.

"Yeah, just dandy," she called back. "Nothing really in here. There's stairs, though. I think they lead into a basement. I'm going to check it out."

"Be careful," Rowan said.

"Yes, Mom."

Rowan rolled his eyes and slumped down onto the dry grass. He felt very exposed just sitting here. There were no fences around the ranch, and he could see tilled fields stretching out into the horizon. The sun was hot and there wasn't any shade on this side of the building. He was nervous and uncomfortable and he had a dull ache in his arm from the effort of lifting Rebecca up. He just hoped she came back soon, because he was eager to get away from here.

Two Desians rounded the corner, and Rowan froze. Was he supposed to be back here? Would they notice the broken window? Getting up and running would only make him look more suspicious, and if Rebecca had gone down into the basement she wouldn't be able to hear him if he shouted.

The Desians walked up to him. They wore the same friendly expressions as the rest of the Desians around here. "Hi there," one of them said. "What are you doing back here?"

"I… got lost," he said. It was a lame excuse, but he relied on half-elves trusting that humans were stupid enough to get lost around here. "I took a wrong turn and wasn't sure how to get back to the main area."

"I'm sorry to hear that." He reached out his hand to help him up. "We'll show you the way back, if you like. You came with that group of travellers today, right?" He got a good look at Rowan's face and added, "Because I don't think I've seen you around here before. We know almost everyone who works here."

"That's right," Rowan said, hesitantly taking his hand. _Just play along_, he thought. _Let them think you're a stupid human who means no harm._

Halfway to his feet, the Desian's grip tightened, then jerked sideways and twisted his arm behind his back. Rowan shouted in surprise and his knees thudded on the hard ground. The other Desian grabbed his hair and forced his head up, staring into his eyes.

"Yeah, it's definitely M048. Matches the picture exactly."

"What the hell?" Rowan shouted.

"Don't act like you're innocent," the Desian pinning his arm said. "We're well aware of what you did at Cleopolica."

The other said, "Asgard's back with the rest of the group. Should we go arrest him, too?"

"No," the first said. "Cardinal Veris said not to approach them unless they strayed from the group. A fight with Kratos is the last thing we need."

"Let's go, scum," the Desian said, pulling him to his feet and holding his arms firmly.

At the very least, he had concrete proof that the Desians here weren't as benign as they pretended.

* * *

As quietly as she could, Rebecca descended the stairs. The air grew cool as she moved farther below the surface. At the foot of the stairs was a metal door. There was nothing notable about it. It had no labels or marks, but she hesitated to open it. It looked heavy, and a churning in her stomach made he wonder if she really wanted to know what was behind it.

She took a deep breath and steeled herself. There was nothing to be gained just standing here like an idiot. Before she could convince herself not to, she reached out and grabbed the handle. The door opened inward, and it took a lot of strength to push it open. She had been right in guessing it was heavy. She carefully closed it behind her, trying not to make any sound. The hallway she found herself in was brightly lit and sterile. There were a few doors further along the corridor, and it turned right up ahead.

She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. A room full of tortured puppies, maybe. The orderliness of this underground chamber freaked her out more than an actual torture chamber would have. If there was at least some indication of awfulness and horror, it would give her a heads up about what to be prepared for.

A screamed shattered the silence. Rebecca froze, her heart stopping for a second. The scream echoed down the hall, bouncing off the smooth walls. She couldn't move as long as it continued, which seemed to be an eternity. It droned on and on, carrying with it fear and pain and horror until it stopped sounding human at all.

It dwindled away, but continued bouncing around in her head for at least a minute after. Her whole body shook and she could practically feel the temptation dragging her backwards and up the stairs to the daylight. The primitive animal in her brain reminded her that humans didn't survive by walking _toward_ the screaming death throes of fellow animals.

_But I'm not an animal_, she though, putting her hand down to grip the hilt of her sword. Animals ran from danger, but she was going to face it. Whatever was at the end of this hall was the truth that the ranch was trying to hide, and that scream had proven that whatever it was, it needed to be stopped. She may not have a personal connection to the people here, but she didn't want to be the kind of person to turn her back on people in need just because it wasn't personal.

With all her senses on the highest possible alert, she pushed herself down the hall.

At the end of the hall, she turned right and came face to face with another door. It was plain, and white, but the thought of what could be beyond it that made that scream made reaching for the door handle feel like walking to the gallows. She pushed herself through the doorway, and froze when she came face to face with a large group of people staring at her.

For a second she thought they were Desians and reached for her sword, but then she noticed that they were behind bars and were staring at her with even more fear than she had. Her hand lowered, and she took a few steps closer. "Who… what is this?"

"We don't know," a man said. "We were told we were being transferred to the Iselia Ranch. But when we came down here, they locked us down here. Every half hour they come to take one of us away. We don't know where they go, but… those screams…" The huddled mass of people exchanged terrified expressions, and all their eyes darted to another door across from the one Rebecca had entered through. It wasn't hard to guess that that was where the screams were coming from.

"I'm going to get you guys out of here," she said, walking up to the door of the cell. It was locked with a heavy padlock, which she stared at in frustration. She had nothing to pick a lock with, and even if she did she had no idea how to go about doing that. She wasn't nearly strong enough to bash it open with her sword. "I…" She looked up at the man who had spoken. "I don't know how. I'm sorry."

He nodded. He seemed to have already resigned himself to his fate. "I understand. Get out of here, girl. The Desians will come back for another of us and you don't want to be caught down here."

She looked at the faces of the trapped people. She couldn't stand the idea of just leaving these people to their fate, but there wasn't anything she could so by herself. "I'm going to come back," she said. "I'm going to come back to free you."

Before she could talk herself out of it, she whirled around and ran back the way she had come. With every step she took running down the hall, she was terrified that another awful scream would rip through the air. She was out of breath by the time she reached the thick metal door, and every second she took prying it open made her feel like a Desian was going to pop around the corner at any time and drag her back to the room with the scream.

She leaned against the wall and took deep breaths once she was on the other side of the door. She didn't think she'd ever be able to wipe that awful scream from her memory, and she had to do something fast. In less than half an hour, another one of those poor people would be dragged away and presumably killed.

After running up the stairs, she pushed some of the crates to the shattered window and scaled them with ease. She jumped down onto the other side, stood up, looked around, and didn't see Rowan. "Aw, crap."

* * *

"Aren't you scared of Thoda Island like everyone else, Martha?" Shea asked. They sat around the table in the cafeteria. Kratos wasn't keen on spending another day sitting around and doing nothing, but they couldn't go anywhere without Martha so they were stuck here until she was ready to go.

"Nah," she said. "I don't know what happened out there, but it was two months ago. Whatever happened can't still be active. Mind you, I don't plan on going ashore with you, but I'd just rather stay on my ship."

Pierce and Shea occupied themselves by chatting with Martha. Rowan had wandered off to Origin knows where, and Spiritua sat quietly, listening to the other three talk. Kratos wasn't sure where Todd had wandered off to, but honestly that boy was the least of his concerns. He had to admit that he was quite curious about the operation Veris was running here. After he got back to Welgaia, he planned on looking into it.

The calm was broken when a blonde girl burst into the room and ran up to their table. "Hey! You guys!" There was a wild look in her eyes and she was panting for breath. The rest of the group froze and stared at her in surprise. "You're the ones that came with Rowan, right?"

Everyone stared at her for a second, and then slowly nodded.

"Oh, great. Because guess what? He's missing."

"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Kratos asked.

"Rebecca," she said quickly, as if her identity was hardly of consequence. "I met Rowan a while ago rescuing that Isaac kid. Anyway, I ran into him here and we went to investigate this transfer thing and I went in and oh crap I need to tell you guys about that, too, because there's these people and they really need our help because the transfer thing is definitely not as dandy as they say, and-" she paused to take a deep breath. Kratos was quite impressed that she'd made it this far without stopping for one earlier. "And they're going to be killed but then I came out and Rowan was missing and I think he got captured because I don't think he'd just wander off and we have to do something!"

They stared at her. Kratos thought he had deciphered at least fifteen percent of that ramble. What he did get out of it was that people were in danger and those people included Rowan. Of course.

"Can you… repeat that?" Pierce asked.

"There's no time to repeat!" Rebecca shouted, throwing her arms up. "People are dying! We need to get everyone out of this ranch immediately and rescue the people in the basement and find where Rowan went and we have, like, fifteen minutes to do it!"

"Slow down," Shea said.

"Where is Rowan?" Spirit said, speaking up for the first time. "Desians took him?"

Rebecca nodded. She finally slowed down a bit. "I think so. I dunno – don't know – where they took him. But, I also discovered that when people get 'transferred', they're getting _horribly murdered_. We need to do something about this!"

"What did you say?" Kratos glanced over Rebecca's shoulder and saw Helen walking past. She paused and came closer to the table. "What's this about getting murdered?"

"The people getting transferred," Rebecca said in exasperation. "They're not being transferred anywhere except to awful screamy deaths. We need to get people out of the ranch and get the people locked up downstairs out!"

"That's quite an accusation," Helen said, concern in her eyes. "Do you have any proof?"

"I saw it!" Rebecca said.

"You saw people being murdered?"

"Well… no. But I _heard_ it. And I'm telling you, there is no way anything making a sound like that scream was in a good place."

"And what evidence do you have that it was a transferred person making it?"

"There were people down there! They were terrified!"

"Possibly confused and jumping to conclusions."

"Argh! I'm telling you, this place is screwed up."

"Calm down," Pierce said. "If it is as you say, then we should act quickly. First we should locate Rowan and leave as quickly as we can."

Martha gave Rebecca a hard look. "Are you certain that what you say is true? Are we really in danger here?"

Rebecca nodded. "Yes. I know I didn't actually see anything, but I heard a scream…" She shuddered. "Trust me. I know what I heard and I know what the people locked up down there looked like. Nothing good can come of staying here."

"We'd better get packing, then," Martha said. "I can't just leave my friends here, of course. We need to warn everyone."

Helen crossed her arms. "You're actually listening to these unsubstantiated rumours? If you spread these wild rumours, you'll create a mass panic over what is probably nothing."

"But what if it's not nothing?" Martha stood up. She was quite tall once she was standing, but Helen didn't back down.

"What happens if you're wrong?" Helen said. "What happens when we all leave the ranch and return to watching our children starve to death in our villages and there's nothing we can do for them? What happens if we all walk out on the Desians, and they give up on the mutually beneficial ranch system and return to the terror and oppression of the past?"

"And what if this girl's right?" Martha said. "Are you just going to sit here and let the Desians fatten you up before the slaughter?"

"We have no reason to believe she's right!" Helen said. "One girl's word against years of experience leads me to believe that we're fine where we are."

"Maybe fine for you," Martha said. "But I'm getting out of here, and you can't stop me from letting my friends know about this, too."

She started to walk to the door, but Helen stepped in front of her. "I can't let you spread a mass panic."

"Are you going to stop me?"

Helen crossed her arms and stood her ground. "If I have to."

Kratos had a bad feeling that this trip to the ranch was about to get a lot more difficult than he'd hoped.


	27. Transfer

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Transfer**

The air was getting colder. Every now and then, Lloyd saw ice drifting in the water. It was almost to the point where he was considering moving inside out of the wind, but he liked being outside too much to give it up just yet. Besides, he was wanted to be the first person to spot Flanoir.

Zelos leaned on the railing of the ship next to him. "It still weirds me out that we can take a ship from Izoold to Palmacosta, but stop at Flanoir on the way."

"I know what you mean," Lloyd said. "The whole world is in the wrong place now." He thought about Benedict, the elf Kratos had mentioned, and wondered if there were any people who had been travelling, only for the route home to be suddenly shifted and moved out of the way. Were they stranded on another continent now? Maybe he should have cleared this with country leaders and given everyone a chance to prepare before smashing the worlds together like this.

"When you think about it, though," Sheena said, "the world is actually all in the _right_ place now. We're just used to the wrong version Mithos made."

"Yeah," Lloyd said. "I suppose you're right."

Rowan sat in a prison cell. Again. Dammit, why did this keep happening to him? He'd been sitting in here for at least an hour. He'd mostly been left alone, and it wouldn't be so bad, if he hadn't heard the most awful scream he'd ever heard about five minutes ago. It had echoed down the hall and rattled his bones, and he had an awful feeling that whatever had made that sound was waiting for him.

How could he have been so stupid? Of course the Desians would recognize him. After killing Dagen and overthrowing the Cleopolica Ranch, he, Pierce, and Ferris were probably at the very top of the Desians' Most Wanted list. He'd already hurt his foot trying to kick the door in, so there was nothing to do but sit and wait. He could hope that the others would figure out where he was and launch a rescue mission, but he didn't want to count on it. Besides, he didn't want Spirit and Shea and the others to get themselves hurt in the process.

He heard footsteps, and jumped to his feet. They'd confiscated his weapons, but he still had his fists. A pair of Desians approached the cell, and the moment they unlocked the door, Rowan launched himself at them. He managed to get a few good punches in before being overpowered, which at least made him feel better.

"Why all the fuss?" one Desian said. "Good news! Your Exsphere's not nearly ready, but after all the trouble you've caused, Cardinal Veris has authorized an early transfer for you!"

They pushed him down the hall and Rowan suddenly decided that he didn't want to know what transfer was after all. They walked down the hall, turned a corner, went through a door, and then walked down another hall. Rowan was thoroughly disoriented by now, and could only guess that they were still underground. After going through yet another door, Rowan saw a door at the end of this hallway that look very final. It was made of reinforced metal, with a heavy bar set across.

They stopped in front of it and one of the Desians hefted it up so it could swing open. It seemed like far too much security just to hold a human, and Rowan wondered if they were going to throw him into a pit and feed him to manticores. He was shoved through the door alright, but thankfully there wasn't a pit beyond.

He found himself in a small room, about the size of a closet, with thick metal walls. He was not at all reassured by the slashes in the metal that looked like they'd been made by the claws of a massive beast. There was a faint odour in the air, which smelled like sickly-sweet pollen mixed with something rotten. One of the Desians grabbed his left arm, rolled up his sleeve, and said, "Aw, what a pretty bracelet. How sweet."

"It's not a bracelet!" Rowan protested as the Desian shoved his hand into a hole in the wall in front of him. Defending his masculinity and fashion choices to a couple of Desians probably shouldn't have been his priority at the moment.

The Desians ignored him and backed out of the room. The door slammed shut and he heard the thick metal bar coming down again. He didn't understand the point, because he'd hurt himself just trying to bash his way through ordinary bars so he didn't think a massive metal door was really necessary. He tugged on his hand, but metal flaps around the hole in the wall and had closed around his wrist and it was stuck in a cavity in the wall. The scent in the air was making his head hurt, and he pictured a blade coming down on his wrist and slicing his hand off any second now.

He felt a twitch on his hand, and tensed up, expecting the worst. Instead, a metal claw grasped the edges of the game on his hand and wrenched it out of its socket. It didn't exactly hurt, but it stung terribly and left the open space feeling cool and sensitive. His legs wobbled as the mana provided by the Exsphere suddenly cut off and his energy levels plummeted. Combined with the awful smell in the air, he felt quite light headed. He didn't believe that this was all that was supposed to happen, and his heart raced while he waited for whatever was supposed to happen next.

And then nothing happened. He stood and waited, looking around the tiny room. Was the floor going to drop out from under him? Was one of the walls going to slide up and reveal a terrible monster?

Metal groaned, and an opening in the door slid open. The Desian's eyes peered through in confusion. "Why are you still human?"

"Um… is this a trick question?"

"You should be – _gurk_."

"I should be _what_?"

The eyes glazed over and then slid down from the door. Through the narrow window, Rowan saw someone walk by and enter a door next to this one. The Desian shouted in surprise, and then his scream was accompanied by an unsettling squelch. Rowan wasn't going anywhere inside his metal closet, and he quickly told himself that whoever it was probably wasn't going to kill him, too. Hopefully.

He heard the metal bar lifting again, and braced himself as the door opening. He relaxed the moment he saw who it was, but the absence of fear made way for confusion to rush in. "Todd?"

"Are you ok?"

"I think so," he said. "My hand's kind of stuck."

"Right, sorry, I'll get that." He disappeared again and Rowan heard something click from the other room. The metal flaps opened and he pulled his hand out. It still stung from where the Exsphere had been removed, but the Exsphere was still sitting in the claw in the wall, and he easily snatched it out again.

"What the hell was that?" Rowan asked, looking down at the dead Desian at his feet while popping the Exsphere back in place.

"I saw you getting taken away by Desians earlier and thought you might be in trouble. I hope you don't mind."

"Mind? I think you just saved my life." Out in the hall, he stepped into the room next door and found a small computer set up. On the screen was an image of the metal room he'd just been in. A shadow moved on the screen as Todd walked into the room next to him, and he jumped. "It's live!"

"Yeah," Todd said. "I've heard Desians mention this before. It's a video. There must be a camera in the other room to monitor what's happening."

"What exactly _was_ happening?" Rowan asked. "I know they took my Exsphere, but it seemed like they were expecting something else to happen."

"Here, let me check the computer." Rowan stepped aside and let Todd fiddle with the controls. A few seconds later, he pulled up another image of the room. This time, though, there was a different man standing in it.

"What's this?" he asked.

"A recording I found. This should show us what's supposed to happen."

Rowan leaned in closer to the screen as Todd pressed on a picture of a triangle. For some reason the triangle made the picture start moving. The man on the computer stood exactly where Rowan had been, with his hand stuck in the wall and looking around fearfully. Almost a minute went by and nothing happened. Todd pressed some more buttons and the sound coming from the computer got louder. It was fuzzy and crackling like pouring water a fire. A click penetrated the fuzz, and the man looked down at his hand in surprise. He must have just had his Exsphere taken off.

The man's voice said, "What was that?" The volume was quite high, so it sounded almost like the man was standing right next to them. So far, though, nothing Rowan had seen was any different from –

The man's skin writhed. Rowan jumped as his body started shaking and he whimpered in pain. The metal flaps opened and he pulled his hand out and wrapped his arms around himself, like he was trying to hold himself together. He dropped to his knees and though the video was grainy Rowan could tell his skin was turning green and thick veins pulsed across his sweaty face.

And then the screaming began. Rowan clapped his hands over his ears as his chest constricted in terror. He'd heard this scream before, distant and echoing, but now he was watching it happen with the volume turned all the way up. "Turn it off!" he shouted. He'd seen enough. He couldn't take any more of this. The sound ripped through his mind as the image of the man's body pulsing and shifting and writhing seared into his memory.

Todd fumbled for the controls, trying to use one hand to block his ears as well. A loud hissing broke through the fuzz, and the screen grew foggy. Rowan thought the computer was malfunctioning, but then he realized it was part of the video and the fog was a gas being pumped into the room, which must be what accounted for the smell. The man's screams grew even worse, but they no longer sounded human at all, because they were coming from something that didn't look human at all either. A horrible, twisted, green figure flailed in the room, banging into the walls with its long, clawed hands. It shrieked in agony and sunk to the floor.

It collapsed. The gas stopped hissing. The green monster curled up on the floor breathed heavily, but the time between the breaths grew slower and slower and gradually stopped. The skin shivered again, and the monstrous form morphed back into a human body. A dead human body. The door to the room opened and a Desian dragged the corpse out.

Rowan's whole body shook. The Desian asking him why he was still human took on new meaning and understanding and he felt like throwing up. This is what was supposed to happen to him. This horrific fate was what the Desians had been expecting. This was transfer.

He finally found his voice, but his throat was dry and the words felt hollow as he said, "Why didn't that happen to me?"

"I don't know," Todd said.

Rowan looked down at his hand. It had to be the Key Crest. Shea had said that Key Crests protected you from Exspheres' negative effects, so it must also protect you from what happens if you remove it. This stupid girly bracelet was the only thing that had saved him from the same horrible death as the man in the video.

"We need to get out of here," he said. "We need to get out of this ranch and tell everyone we can to leave with us."

"I agree," Todd said. "But you can't just go strolling around. It won't take the Desians long to realize something went wrong down here and everyone will be looking for you."

"You're right. So, what should I do?"

Todd hopped on the table and reached for the ceiling. He pressed his hands against the panels in the ceiling and pushed it up, sliding it aside. "I think there's a crawl space up here. You can sneak through here and make your way to the far edge of the building and then make a break for it. I'll meet up with your friends and tell them what's going on."

"Aren't you worried about getting into trouble down here, too?"

Todd shook his head. "Nah, I'm a half-elf. They won't attack me. Here, let me give you a leg up." He cupped his hands just like Rowan had earlier done for Rebecca.

Todd helped lift him up to the ceiling. He grabbed the edge and pulled himself up, crawling into the narrow space. It was dark and dusty and probably full of spider webs, but at least there were no Desians.

"Can you at least give me your knife?" Rowan asked. "I'd feel a lot better sneaking around through a ranch with a weapon."

"Sure," Rowan said, handing it up through the opening. "Just give it back, ok?"

"Got it." He slipped it through his belt, and then moved the ceiling panel back in place.

Just before it was re-set, Todd said, "Good luck."

* * *

The confrontation had spilled out of the cafeteria. On one side of the yard, Kratos and the others stood in a group with Martha and her friends. Across from them stood Helen and a mass of people protesting their accusations. Once they had gotten outside, Martha had told a single companion of hers what was going on, and then the news spread like wildfire. Desians stood around trying to dispel the rumours and assure everyone that Rebecca was lying. The two groups shouted back and forth at each other, and Kratos worried that they'd turn to violence any time now.

He wanted to just leave, but one look at Spiritua had told him that trying to leave without Rowan was simply not happening. Besides, they couldn't leave without Martha, either, and she didn't seem keen on walking away from all these people determined to stay.

Someone came running toward them, cutting through the crowd to reach their group. It was Todd, and he seemed out of breath.

"There you are," Shea said. "Where have you been?"

"Something terrible is happening here," he said once he'd caught his breath. "This whole transfer thing is-"

"Yeah, we know," Rebecca said. "Figured that out already, but thanks for playing."

"Oh." He seemed a bit crestfallen that his knew wasn't met with any surprise. "Well, I rescued Rowan."

Spirit perked up. "He's ok?"

Todd nodded. "He's making his way to the edge of the ranch in secret so he can make a break for it. We need to get out of here and meet up with him outside the ranch. It took me a little while to sneak back out of there myself, so he's had a good head start. He might even be out already."

"We can't just leave," Rebecca said. "All these people-"

"We can't save everyone," Shea said. "I know it sucks, but I don't think the majority of people here are going to willingly leave the ranch and we simply don't have the resources to force them to."

"If we stay any longer," Pierce said, "we might spark a riot. Those of us who want to leave should leave before violence starts."

"I agree," Kratos said. "If Rowan is already out, there's no reason for us to stick around any longer." He pushed his way through the crowd to reach the front and stand next to Martha. "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I must insist we leave. Shouting at the others is not going to convince them to come with us."

"I'd agree with you," Martha said, "but I don't think they're keen on us leaving."

Kratos looked around. Helen's group was considerably larger than their own, and had formed a horseshoe around them, with the cafeteria to their backs. "Dammit…"

"They think that if we leave, it would be insulting to the Desians and it might make them want to return to the old ways."

Kratos thought about it. To be fair to Helen, he could certainly see that happening. If Veris' plan to treat humans nice stopped producing, Mithos would waste no time in replacing him with a Cardinal who would create results the old fashioned way. Explaining this to Martha would do little to convince her to leave, however. If it came down to it, he could probably use magic and blast a pathway through the crowd, but he wasn't keen on slaughtering innocent humans. He could also grab Spirit and the two of them could fly off, but leaving his comrades behind didn't sit well with him. Besides, they still needed Martha's boat. They were going to have to find a way to reason with Helen's mob.

* * *

Rowan was not outside the ranch yet. In fact, he was even deeper than when he'd started out. After leaving Todd behind, he'd briefly considered escaping like Todd has suggested, and then quickly decided that he wasn't going to run away. If he ran, the Desians would keep murdering people. The thought of more people going through what he'd just witnessed and nearly avoided dragged him deeper into the ranch.

His plan was simple: he was going to murder Veris. There were probably a lot of details that still needed to be worked out, but he'd work that out when he got there. His knees and elbows were bruised from banging them on the low ceiling and tight walls, and he was covered in dust and cobwebs. There was very little room in the crawlspace, and sometimes he wouldn't have made it through at all if he hadn't grown up eating only what food he could afford to survive. He'd had to come out of the crawlspace sometimes when there simply was no way forward, and hurry down a hall or up a flight up stairs before being able to get back in. Luckily no one spotted him. There didn't seem to be as many Desians at this ranch.

He was almost there now. He was sure Veris' office would be the one in the middle building on the second floor, overlooking the front yard. He really ought to think of a conclusive plan now, but so far all he had was "go to Veris' office, slit his throat." It left much to be desired.

The floor – which was actually the ceiling – creaked beneath his knees. He was nearly there. He was pretty sure Veris' office was right ahead, below the corrugated metal tubing that curved around the crawlspace.

When he was right over it, he heard voices speaking.

"No, don't kill them," said a voice. "They're useless if they're dead. I'm sure we can resolve this peacefully. Tell your Desians not to harm anyone if at all possible."

"And what about the Chosen's group?"

Rowan mentally swore. They knew about Spirit. He had to do something before they killed her, but taking on two people wouldn't be very smart. Well, nothing about this plan was very smart, but he figured his chances were best of he waited until Veris was alone and jumped him.

"At least one of them knows the truth, correct?" Veris said.

The other Desian said, "From what I've heard, one of the girls snuck into the transfer compound. Although, I think one of the boys knows things, too. M048 still hasn't been recaptured and one of the group must have helped him escape."

"Hm…"

Rowan barely dared to breathe in case it gave away his position. They were definitely on alert for him, then.

Veris said, "I want the Chosen's group brought to me. We shall ascertain exactly who knows what, ensure that anyone with direct evidence is detained, and send the rest on their way. We can only pray the Chosen herself isn't the girl we need; I really don't want to deal with Cruxis right now." He sounded irritated, like this whole business of murdering people and capturing witnesses was some tedious hiccup in an otherwise lovely day.

"Yes, sir."

"One more thing," Veris said. "The most important thing is to not break the trust we've built up with the humans. If Desians round up and arrest a group of humans, it would send a bad image."

"Then… what should we do, sir?"

"Let me deal with it. Stay on watch, but only get involved in peace-keeping endeavours."

"Yes, sir."

Footsteps, and then Veris was alone. Rowan heard shuffling papers, and a little tune that Veris hummed to himself. It was now or never.

Rowan dug his fingers into the edges of the ceiling panel, tossed it aside, and leapt down into the office. He landed with a thud on the desk, jarring his knees but managing to stay balanced. Veris shouted in alarm and flailed backward in his chair, practically falling over. Rowan slashed at him, but Veris dove to the side just in time.

Frustrated, Rowan leapt off the desk to chase after him. He knew he only had limited time before Veris called for backup. His heart pounded and his blood raced, and the only images going through his head was that awful video and the thought that this bastard in front of him had planned it all. He shouted in rage and charged forward.

Veris grabbed his chair and swung it at Rowan. The chair legs smashed into Rowan's arms, sending the knife flying out of his grip. It hit the wall and then fell with a thud on the floor. For a long moment, Veris and Rowan stood frozen, staring at the knife.

Veris threw the chair forward and made a dive for the knife. Rowan made a similar dive, but his efforts were hindered by catching a chair to the chest. He batted it away in seconds, but those seconds were enough time for Veris to grab the knife and whirl around.

Rowan froze mid-run, stopping himself just in time from running straight onto the knife.

Veris panted. "You bastard! You got your dirty footprints all over my desk and paperwork! I'm going to have to re-do all of it now!" Veris panted for breath. He didn't seem overly confident with the knife in his hand, but that just made Rowan less willing to test him in case he flipped out and tried to stab him. When Rowan didn't reply, Veris gestured to the empty chair on the opposite side of the desk. "Well, don't just stand there. Sit down."

"I'd rather die standing, thanks."

Veris rolled his eyes. "I'm not going to kill you."

"You're not?"

"No. At least not here and now. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get bloodstains out of carpet? This stuff's not cheap, you know."

"Uh…"

"Just sit down."

Rowan edged around the desk, never taking his eyes off the knife. When he was seated, Veris righted his chair and sat down across from him, never taking his hand off the knife. Rowan glanced back at the door, but Veris said, "Don't bother. It's locked. So, you're the mysterious M048, I assume?"

"No," Rowan said. "My name is Rowan."

"Rowan? Like the tree? Lovely. How old are you, anyway?"

"Uh, nineteen."

"Nineteen? My, that's quite young to be an instigator in the biggest revolt against Desians in history."

"Not _that_ young," he grumbled.

"Sorry, but I'm a half-elf and already several centuries old. I have shoes older than you." He thought for a moment, and added, "Come to think of it, I probably have shoes older than your grandparents. I ought to replace those..."

"What the hell are you playing at?" Rowan asked. He had been prepared to fight Veris, but sitting here and chatting about shoes had caught him off guard. "If you're going to kill me, just do it. Don't torture me with small talk first."

"Torture?" Veris looked taken aback. "I thought you humans appreciated being treated like civilized beings. Besides, I would never allow something as messy as torture at my ranch. Waste of resources, gets blood everywhere, disastrous for morale..."

"And why do you care about morale? I saw that recording downstairs. I know what you're doing to the humans here. Do you think their morale is high when they're being turned into monsters?"

Veris frowned. "Yes, that is unfortunate." With one hand still on the knife, he used the other to carefully straighten the papers and pens on his desk that Rowan had disturbed when he jumped down. "Sadly, we haven't yet figured out how to extract Exspheres without the resulting mutation. We used to have to chain people up and then kill the monsters the old fashioned way. I admit I feel quite pleased with myself to inventing the new system. I believe most of the other ranches have adopted the same method of extraction. Killing the mutations with gas is much neater and safer for the extractors."

"Hey, I have an idea," Rowan said. "Why not just not extract Exspheres if it's killing people?"

Veris smiled. "That defeats the entire purpose of a ranch. We're here to harvest Exspheres."

Rowan looked down at the gem on his clenched fist. "So, you lure people here with promises of food and wages, stick an Exsphere on their hand, and then take it back later and kill them?"

"That about sums it up, yes," Veris said. "Although I prefer to think of this arrangement as mutually beneficial rather than a lure. Exspheres need energy to be useful, you see. They take that energy from their hosts through hard work. The traditional ranch system had prisoners forced to work just to keep them busy and promote Exsphere growth."

Rowan remembered long hours of backbreaking labour, and it had all been to make this gem on his hand stronger? All the prisoners at the ranch were worked half to death for the sole purpose of growing these dumb rocks, just so they could be horrifically murdered and the rocks extracted. It made him sick.

"The Southern Ranch has less production of Exspheres than the other ranches," Veris explained. "We extract far fewer, and tend to do them in small batches every couple months, rather than on a continuous basis. However, we make up for it by being the most cost effective ranch in Sylvarant. We grow all our own food, my Desian staff is minimal because I don't need security guards, and we don't waste resources on fences and prisons and torture. We're almost entirely self-sustaining! The humans work harder here than at any other ranch, meaning the Exspheres we do extract are of higher quality. So as you can see, this arrangement works wonders for us, as well as providing food, lodging, and labour for starving humans. A perfect arrangement, if I may say so myself."

"Except for the part where you murder them."

"An unfortunate necessity."

"What I don't understand," Rowan said, "is how you're getting the crops to grow. If these people could do it on their own, they wouldn't need your awful ranch. Someone I know said you have fertilizer, but what kind of fertilizer do you have that these people couldn't get themselves?"

"Hm..." Veris rubbed his chin. "From what I've gathered about you in the last couple minutes, perhaps you will trust me when I say you would be happier not knowing? I don't think you'll appreciate it." His muscles tightened. Now he needed to know more than ever. "Tell me."

"I don't know how much you know about farming, but there are always good crops from volcanic regions. This is because the ash makes for excellent fertilizer. There are no volcanoes in this region, of course."

"So, it's ash?" Rowan said. That didn't sound so bad. "Where did you get the..." a tiny thought crawled into his mind, but he smothered it because it was too awful to think about. "No. You wouldn't. That's too awful even for you."

Veris shrugged. "We needed to get rid of the transferred bodies and decomposing corpses in the soil is definitely not good for growing food. Cremation was the most efficient means of disposal."

His stomach churned while hatred and disgust battled for prominence in his chest. Human ashes. Just thinking the words in his head made him feel sick. They were taking these people's friends, turning them into monsters and murdering them, then turning them to ash and handing them back in bags of fertilizer. Rowan clenched his fists so hard he left imprints on his palms from his nails. "You're a monster. At least Dagen was up front about it."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. I was going to let you go if you came around to accepting the ranch's modus operandi, but it seems you are quite stubborn."

"So then what's the plan now? Lay down a cover for the floor so you can stab me without messing up your lovely carpets?"

Veris paused, and thought for a moment, weighing the option. "A good suggestion. However, it does feel like a waste to kill you without extracting your Exsphere first, so no, you're going to sit here nicely until I have everything taken care of here, and then you're going back to the transfer station. Please wait patiently. I'm sorry I don't have a drink to offer you, but you did come unannounced."

"If you think you're getting my Exsphere, then-"

"Please be quite for a moment. I have an announcement to make."

* * *

Chunks of ice floated in the ocean around the ship, and even with his gloves on, Lloyd's fingers were going numb. He could see mainland Flanoir in the distance by now. They'd probably reach it by nightfall.

"We should move inside," Sheena said, shivering. "It's getting freezing out here."

"I can help you with that," Zelos said. "Sharing body heat is the best way to keep warm, so if you just want to snuggle up with me..."

Sheena glared at him across the circle they sat in. "If I wasn't so cold I'd be kicking your ass right now."

"Lucky me!" Zelos said.

"Sheena is correct," Presea said. "Now that we've entered the radius of Celsius' cold, it would be wise to go inside."

The rest of the group chorused in agreement with Sheena, and slowly stood up, shivering and rubbing themselves to thaw out. Colette hugged herself, shivering with a smile.

"You appear quite happy, Colette," Regal said.

"Oh, yes," she said. "It's not a big deal, but I get really happy when I'm really cold or hot. It reminds me of how I used to not be able to feel it and how Lloyd and everyone went to so much trouble to save me. And remembering that feels really nice!"

With shivers and groans, they trekked across the deck to go indoors.


	28. Choice

**Chapter Twenty-Eight: Choice**

Kratos stood in the cafeteria, examining the far wall. There was nothing but empty fields beyond, and if they could get out through this side, they wouldn't have to deal with Helen's angry mob. The walls were made of plaster sheeting on a wood frame. He should be able to smash through it if he tried hard enough, or burn it with fire magic. He didn't want to risk fire, though. The ground was so dead and dry around here that any spark could start a wildfire. Shea, Todd, Spiritua, and a couple of Martha's friends sat at the long tables inside, while the others were still outside arguing and shouting. Well, Kratos didn't think Pierce was arguing and shouting. He was probably doing his best to keep physical violence from breaking out.

The crackle of an intercom startled everyone into silence. Kratos walked to the doorway in curiosity.

"Hello, denizens of the Southern Ranch," said a scratchy voice booming across the ranch. "This is Cardinal Veris speaking. I hope everyone is well. It has come to my attention that there are those among you claiming that horrible things are being done to your transferred comrades. These are _lies_. I can only hope that this whole sorry situation is the result of a gross misunderstanding, because if someone is purposefully spreading such filthy and erroneous rumours, it might break my heart." He sighed heavily. "I am determined to put this situation to rest. You have my guarantee that there is nothing for you to be worried about, and I would like to personally meet with the ones spreading these rumours so that I may understand where such lies originated and put them to rest. If you would - "

There was a click and bang and a scuffle, and then a different voice broke in. Spirit sat up in attention the moment she heard it. "Don't listen to him! He's a monster! You're all in dang-"

Another scuffle and a thud, and then Veris' voice returned. "Ahem. Please excuse the interruption. I'm currently meeting with one of the rumour spreaders and he is sadly quite confused. As I was saying, please direct the others to my office. It is ever so important; I fear that if problems like this were to go unaddressed, my superiors may no longer support our new ranch protocols. Just send them on up to meet with me, though, I'm sure this can all be sorted out this afternoon. Thank you and have a nice day." There was a click and then the intercom turned off.

"Get inside," Kratos said to the others standing in the doorway. They had maybe five seconds before Helen's mob came to attention and attacked. Pierce, Martha, and a few others wasted no time in backing up into the building, but Rebecca stood firm, shouting profanities at the building the intercom had originated from. They involved lewd references to the hairy reproductive organs of Gnome. Kratos grabbed her arm and dragged her into the cafeteria, just as a man stepped forward to try and grab her as well. Pierce slammed the door shut behind them, while Shea, Spirit, and Todd pushed a table in front of it.

"Let go!" Rebecca shouted. "I'm not afraid of them! I want to meet Veris myself and tell him what I think of his ranch!"

"That would not be an ideal solution," Kratos said, keeping a firm grip on her arm. He was not about to let this girl run off and get herself killed.

Knocks and bangs came to the door, but the door barricade seemed to be holding. "Great," Shea said. "Just great. Anyone have any suggestions?"

"Obviously we have to do something about Rowan," Pierce said.

Kratos sighed in irritation. "Why is that that no matter where we go, he _always_ gets himself in trouble?"

Rebecca, who had given up struggling and crossed her arms surly, said, "Maybe 'cause he's the only one who cared to fight the Desians here."

"We _are_ fighting the Desians," Shea said. "When Spirit completes her journey, they'll all be locked away. That's a much more effective solution than going barging into danger and getting yourself killed."

"We still have to save him," Spirit said. "I know it's his fault for getting into trouble, but... we can't leave him behind."

Kratos had known she would say that, but it still irritated him. "Alright. The problems we currently face are that Rowan is trapped in Veris' office, and there is an angry mob outside our door that wants to turn us in to the Desians."

"And we can't even fight them," Pierce said, "because they're all just innocent, misguided people."

"We have to convince them that Veris is wrong," Martha said. "We need to provide them with proof that Rebecca is right. Not only so we can convince them to leave, but because we won't be able to get anywhere with them at our throats."

"If they saw it themselves, they wouldn't be so keen on staying," Rebecca said. She shuddered. "Just hearing it was enough to convince me. But we can't exactly lead everyone down into the basement and wait for the Desians to kill someone. Hopefully they've put that on hold while dealing with this."

They sat and thought, staring at the ground. It was hard to think with angry protesters outside the building, trying to get in and turn them over to Desians.

Then Todd looked up. "We can't show them the real thing... but the recording is just as awful."

Shea's eyes lit up. "Is there any way to put the video on whatever it was that Veris was using to project his voice?"

"An intercom," Kratos said. "It should be possible to play the audio over it."

"Yeah!" Rebecca said, nodding. "Then everyone will be forced to listen and they won't be able to ignore the truth."

"Do we know how to do that?" Pierce said. "My knowledge of computers is limited to what I saw in the Cleopolica ranch."

"It shouldn't be too hard," Rebecca said. "Just hold the mic in front of the screen and it will pick up the audio."

"I can do it," Kratos said. "I'm familiar enough with computers to get around them."

"What about Rowan?" Shea asked. "We have to go after him."

"I'll go," Spirit said.

Kratos shook his head. "Absolutely not. It's too dangerous."

"We need to get this crowd off our backs," Todd said. "A group of us should go out first as a distraction and lure them away. Then two other groups can go to the transfer room and broadcast the audio and another can rescue Rowan."

"I'll lead the distraction," Martha said. Her friends nodded in agreement. "The Chosen should come with us. We'll protect her, and then she won't have to go into the ranch itself."

"I'll go with you guys, too," Todd said. "Rowan took my knife so I'll be a bit useless in a fight."

"I'd like Rebecca to accompany me to deal with the computers," Kratos said, glancing at her. "After all, she's been down there before."

"Very well," Pierce said. "That leaves Shea and me to deal with Rowan."

"I believe Veris himself is a non-fighter," Kratos said. "Fighting him should not be nearly the ordeal fighting Dagen was."

"We'll be fine," Shea said. "Most of the Desians are out here, I think."

"Everyone stand back," Kratos said, walking to the door. "I'm going to use magic to knock them off their feet." Spirit gave him a concerned glare, and he added, "It won't hurt them." Kratos stood on top of the table, ready to blast the door open as soon as he charged up enough mana. It was really quite annoying how much trouble these people were causing considering they were trying to save them. Purple light swirled around his feet, and when he felt it reach its peak, he kicked the door down, shouted, "Thunder Blade!" and watched as a massive sword plunged form the sky and struck the empty ground right in front of the cafeteria. Waves of electricity washed over the crowd, knocking the startled mob off their feet. He looked back and shouted, "Everybody move!"

They dashed out into the open. Those closes to the blast were still getting to their feet, but the ones farther back were already up again. Spiritua sprinted ahead of Kratos, darting in and out of grasping hands. Behind her came Todd, Martha, and the rest, shouting and running and garnering as much attention as possible. The other four ran with the crowd at first, but as the mob got their senses back and took off in pursuit, they cut to the side and darted around the corner of a building. There was a door over here, which Kratos wasted no time in opening and running through.

They stood in the hallway, catching their breaths. Shea peered through the window in the door. "They've split up," she said. "Helen's group have scattered to try and catch all of them."

"We probably don't have much time," Pierce said. "We don't want to leave the others out there for too long, especially with the Chosen One."

"Let's waste no time, then," Shea said, walking away from the door. "Let's go get that blithering idiot out of Veris' office, shall we?"

"Good luck," Rebecca said as the two of them ran off. "Ok, Kratos, let's get going."

"We need to find a door into the basement." Down the hall, he saw Shea and Pierce turn up a flight of stairs.

Rebecca ran ahead, checking every door she passed for stairs. Kratos followed, but his mind was still outside with the others. If they got caught, he didn't think Veris would kill them immediately. But, after what happened with Dagen at the Cleopolica ranch, he couldn't rely on demanding their release if something did happen. He knew Spirit would be fine, but he'd feel bad if the others got killed over this. Todd seemed like an ok kid, and he'd only been trying to help.

"I found stairs!" Rebecca yelled, he hand still on the doorknob and pointing excitedly down.

"Keep your voice down." He followed her through the door and descended the stairs. Downstairs looked very similar to upstairs, but luckily there were signs posted to tell them which way things were. In one direction was the laundry facility, and in the other was "Transfer."

This whole transfer business irritated Kratos. If the Desians were going to kill people, fine, ok, he didn't exactly like it but whatever. At the very least they could be upfront about it. People deserved to at least be given the respect of getting killed by someone with the guts to say 'kill.' Kratos had killed many people in the course of his life, but he had at least never pussy-footed around the issue.

"Why are you so eager to help, Rebecca?" Kratos asked.

"Huh?" She looked back at him. "Why not?"

"It just seems odd that you're here risking your neck for people you've never met. I couldn't help but wonder if you have some ulterior motive for winning over the Chosen's companions."

She scowled at him. "Look, I didn't even know you guys were the Chosen's group until Rowan mentioned it. I just… feel like I should help people. Someone needs to do something, so it might as well be me."

"And where did you say you were from, again?"

"I didn't. It's a small village you won't have heard of."

"And there's a lot of nobility living in this tiny village?"

She shot him a fast look. "I never said I was noble."

"Your clothes, your nicely manicured fingers, the hint of gold I glimpsed around your neck, your hair – which, while falling apart now, was clearly very neatly braided at one point – all indicates that you come from a wealthy family."

The reached a door marked "Transfer." Rebecca stood still, letting Kratos go through first. She looked angry, although Kratos couldn't blame her. He'd be mad, too, if someone came along and picked out all the discrepancies in their story. Of course, he doubted it would happen to him because he was much more careful with his personal information. Rebecca reluctantly tagged along behind him.

"You don't know anyone at this ranch," Kratos continued. They walked down a long, white corridor. "And yet, if you weren't from the southern region, you would be familiar with how ranches are operated in other parts of the world. So your story about coming from a small village is supported by your ignorance about the world. However, the only region with thick forests is Iselia, and you would therefore be aware of the Iselia Ranch. So once again I ask you, who are you and why are you so eager to help?"

"Uh… I…"

At the end of the hall, Kratos opened a door. They were in a short corridor, with a heavy metal door at the end. Two Desians walked out of a small room, and froze when they saw them.

"Hey, uh, you guys aren't supposed to be down here."

"So sorry," Kratos said, striding forward. "We must have gotten lost and then-" in one movement he drew his sword and slashed at the Desians, slicing one across the middle. He screamed and fell to the ground with his hands over his bloodied stomach, and Kratos brought his sword down through his neck.

The other Desian backed down the hall in a few terrified steps. He fumbled to load the crossbow in his hands, but wasn't fast enough. Kratos dealt with him similarly. Two dead Desians. Mithos wasn't going to be happy. He looked back at Rebecca, who had a drawn sword in her hand. He had to hand it to her, her stance was perfect. Too perfect, in fact. She had received formal training, but hardly enough real world experience to adapt to a posture more personalized for her body and fighting style. When she saw that the Desians had been dealt with so easily, she slowly put her sword away.

"I believe this is the room," Kratos said, walking into the small room next to the metal door that the Desians had exited.

Rebecca followed him, and then looked down at the puddle of blood from the dead Desian that was slowly approaching. She closed the door and stood with her back to the glass window. Kratos took a seat in front of the computer.

"Another thing," Kratos said. "You were the one to explain that the best way to go about this would be to hold the mic in front of the screen. The others that I've met here don't even know what a microphone is, let alone how it relates to audio projection. Where did you learn about computers in a tiny village in the woods?"

"Uh…"

Kratos was beginning to piece it together. He'd had a theory from the first time Rowan mentioned her, and everything she'd said fit. Mithos was _definitely_ not going to like this, and he had a bad feeling that if he was right, it was going to be his job to fix it.

He clicked around on the computer screen, trying to find access to the intercom. "So, Rebecca… what is your family name?"

"Um, it's Galatea."

Kratos nodded. Dammit. There was no way that could be a coincidence. He had been right. "So, how exactly did you end up in Sylvarant, Chosen?"

* * *

Next to Spirit, Todd panted for breath. He wasn't going to be able to keep up much longer. He was one of the ones who had come out with information about the transfer, so Spirit knew that if he got caught, he'd probably be killed, half-elf or not. She had boundless energy, but she wasn't willing to keep going and leave him behind, especially not after he had gone through all the trouble of saving her brother.

In a flash, she pulled out her wings, grabbed Todd around the chest, and took off into the air. It was hard to fly with someone's weight pulling her down, especially when the person in question had been taken by surprise and kicked his legs around in shock.

"What are you doing?" he shouted at her, trying to be heard of the rush wind.

"Going to the roof." She soared up the wall, leaving a handful of angry humans behind. She dropped Todd on the gravel surface of the roof, and then took a seat on the edge of the roof. She faced inward, not willing to be taken surprise on the roof of a ranch again.

Todd took a few deep breaths and then looked over the side. "Wow. Thanks."

Spiritua just nodded. She figured they couldn't stay up here too long, since it wouldn't take them long to come around through the building and enter through the roof access door. It gave them a chance to catch their breaths, though.

She looked down across the ranch. It really was a shame that the Desians here were just the same as the ones up north. For a little while, she'd dared to hope that maybe they really had changed. Why did they have to hurt humans? If the humans and half-elves worked together, they could turn this into a real productive ranch and then everyone would be happy. But now, she didn't think there was any way they could save everyone. Even if Rebecca and Kratos did play the recording for all to hear, there would probably still be a sect of humans stubbornly holding onto their faith in the Desians.

There wasn't anything she could do for them except get rid of the Desians once and for all. She thought about the conversation she'd had with Rowan the other night. She felt guilty just thinking about it. She really, _really_ didn't want to become an angel. She loved her life and she loved her friends and she loved feeling the warmth of a sunny day on her face. She didn't want to give that up, and she was terrified of what was to come. There was something else at the end that Kratos hadn't told her about yet, but if he was this apprehensive about telling her, she assumed she wouldn't like it. She wondered if maybe the rules about being an angel meant never being allowed to come back to Sylvarant. She'd miss the world horribly, and more than anything she wanted to go home and crawl into bed and forget this whole Chosen mess.

But then she looked down at the ranch, and the humans who were so desperate that they turned to the Desians for aid. She wished they would put their faith in Martel instead, but what faith could they have in a goddess who couldn't even make it rain or make the crops grow or the fish bite? If the world wasn't regenerated, these people were going to be killed by Desians, and even the ones who escaped would likely starve. To consider turning her back on becoming an angel just because she didn't want to give up the comforts of her life was the most selfish thing she could think of.

So she would go through with the angel transformation. If Rowan figured out a way to regenerate the world without her becoming an angel, then she would gladly take that option. She didn't have very high hopes for that, though. It wasn't fair to the world to put her own comforts first.

A bird tweeted. She looked up, and Noishe fluttered down toward her. She smiled at him and raised her hand so he could perch on her finger. She liked Noishe. He had a habit of flying off whenever things got serious or dangerous, so she took his reappearance to be a reassurance that things were going to be alright.

She took a deep breath. Pollen was in the air, and the sky was warm and bright. The sun hit her face and sweat dripped down the back of her neck. She wished she could take this beautiful day and store it in a bottle, so if she had to ascend to heaven she could open it up again and remember what it was like to live. She would need to figure out how to do that soon, though, because she didn't think she had many beautiful sunny days left on this world.

* * *

"Slow down," Zelos said, holding up his hand. "I think we all just missed the most important fact."

"What's that?" Colette asked, looking across the room. It was still cold down here, but at least there wasn't any wind. Curiously, Sheena had decided to sit next to Zelos. Zelos was quite pleased with this fact.

"If Rebecca was the Chosen from Tethe'alla, that makes her my great-great-great-times-infinity-grandmother. So if I'm related to her, she must have been hot! Was she, Kratos?"

Kratos stared at him in annoyance. "She was sixteen. I am not judging the 'hotness' of a child."

"Yeah, ok, but you're an old man. Was she as good looking as me?"

Sheena smacked him across the face so hard the sound echoed around the wooden room. Lloyd suddenly realized why she'd wanted to sit close to him.

* * *

Rebecca had been telling the truth when she said she was from a small town in the woods that no one would have heard of. They wouldn't have heard of it because it was in Tethe'alla, but it was still technically true. Most people in the village were Martelists, and she'd spent her childhood running freely through the forest, climbing trees, throwing mud, and playing with the other kids.

Everything changed when an angel named Yuan appeared in her village and named her the Chosen of Mana. He said that she was to be the founder of Tethe'alla's Mana Lineage, and that it was her sacred duty to serve as the face of the church and spread the teachings of Martel across the country. Her family couldn't have been prouder. Her friends couldn't have been more mystified. Rebecca couldn't have been more heartbroken.

Yuan took her away from her quaint village and to a large mansion in Meltokio, where wealthy priests took over and formed her into a perfect young lady to mingle with the upper crust and bring them over to Martelism. Donations were needed to fund the building of a cathedral, after all, and who better to spread the faith than the Chosen One?

She travelled the country, visiting nobles and peasants alike and preaching the good news about Martel. And then, she visited a tiny village on a small island in the east. The peasants there spoke of a fearsome stone monument that gobbled people up on the night of the full moon. Determined to put these rumours to rest, the Chosen had set out at night to prove it was all just unfounded beliefs and that the only true power in the universe was Martel. Everything had gone exactly according to plan until the stone circle lit up, light spiralled around her, and it swallowed her whole.

"…I woke up in a field a little bit north of here," Rebecca said. "I've been trying to find another stone circle that might take me back to Tethe'alla, but I haven't had any luck so far."

Kratos found the program that connected to the intercom. The microphone was built into the computer, so all they'd have to do was turn it on and then play the recording. He searched through the computer to find a recording like Todd had described.

"I don't believe there is an Otherworldly Gate in Sylvarant," Kratos said, not looking up from the computer. "However, if you accompany us to the Tower of Salvation, you can cross over to Tethe'alla from there."

Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

He nodded. "I don't know if you're aware, but I am actually an angel of Cruxis. The angel Yuan that you mentioned meeting is a close friend of mine. I'll make sure you get back to Tethe'alla safely."

"Thank you!" Rebecca said, practically jumping with excitement. "Oh, man, I was almost at the point where I was resigning myself to live in Sylvarant forever. I mean, I'm sure it's nice and all when it's not declining, but I really want to go home."

_Just what I need_, Kratos thought. _Two Chosens to look after. _He found a video recording, and clicked on it. He hadn't turned the mic on yet, because he figured they should watch it first and make sure it didn't have some other audio at the end that would ruin their message.

He clicked, play, and watched. He watched the entire thing with a stony face and motionless muscles. He had heard about the Exsphere extraction process, of course, but he had never actually seen it. The video featured a young woman screaming and clutching her face as her body turned to mush and then regrew as a frightening beast. He didn't want to fight against Mithos, but this… this was wrong. He wondered if Mithos had ever seen footage like this of the actual victims of his plan. Would that change anything? Would Mithos even care?

"Turn it off," Rebecca said in a small, quiet voice when the woman had slumped to the ground. Her whole body was shaking and her eyes were wide and glassy.

Kratos pressed stop, and then rewound it back to the beginning. They were going to have to watch it again from the beginning to play it for the whole ranch. At least everyone outside wouldn't have to watch the visuals to go with it, but perhaps that was worse. In the absence of imagery, the mind could cook up a thousand horrible images to go with that horrific scream.

"Is it ready?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes. I just need to press-"

Glass shattered, Rebecca shrieked and threw her hands over her head, and a crossbow bolt sunk into the computer with a fountain of sparks. Kratos whipped his head to the door with the now broken window, and saw Helen walking slowly toward them with the Desian's discarded crossbow in her hands. Her face was tight and pale.

"Don't play it," she said in a hollow voice.

"Well, we certainly can't now!" Rebecca yelled. "You – you absolute bitch! That was our only chance to show the whole ranch the truth! Why did you do that?"

Helen opened the door between them and let the crossbow drop to the ground. "They don't need to hear it."

"How else are we going to convince them to leave?" Rebecca demanded, stomping her foot. "They deserve to know the truth. You can't deny what's happening anymore. You just heard it yourself."

"I know," Helen said. "Do you honestly believe that none of us had any idea that something dark and terrible was happening here?"

Rebecca let her clenched fists fall. She sounded considerably less angry when she said, "You… you knew?"

"Not exactly," Helen said. She looked much older than she had when they first met. Her face was weary and tired, and she leaned against the doorway. "The Desians think we're stupid sheep, blindly following them. And maybe some of us are blind, but only because we chose to be. We knew there was something wrong with the transfers. We knew there had to be a reason why no one ever wrote back. But we… we didn't want to believe. The thought of what might be happening was too terrifying to dwell upon, so we pushed it aside and pretended it wasn't there." She buried her tired face in her hand. "What were we to do? Protest and let the Desians know their scam was pointless so they may as well go back to the dark days? Leave the ranch and return to our barren fields and empty nets?" She shook her head. "Playing that for everyone to hear won't fix things. It won't make their decisions easier, or the Desians kinder."

"It should be an easy decision," Rebecca said. "Once you've heard that, how could anyone choose to stay here and wait for it to happen to them, too?"

Helen raised her eyes. There were tears in them. "I choose to stay."

"What? How? You just heard it. If you don't run, this is going to happen to you, too!"

"I know," Helen said. "It will happen to all of us. But if I leave, I return to my village to watch my children starve to death. I think that is even worse torture."

"But… but…"

"I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused you. Please understand that we are scared. We don't want the Desians to actively oppress us again. We don't want to dwell on the futures that await us all. We just want to live in peace for a few years here before our own inevitable transfer. Isn't that better than the alternative?"

"You can't," Rebecca said. She looked to Kratos, who had stood back silently throughout the conversation. "Kratos, say something! Convince her! They can't stay here. What happened to that woman shouldn't ever happen to anyone ever again."

"It's her decision," Kratos said. "She has the right to choose her life and her death."

Helen gave him the faintest of smiles. "Now, is the intercom still set up? I'd like to make an announcement to my friends and followers and tell them to let you go."

"If you do so and then remain here," Kratos said, "the Desians may kill you in retaliation."

"I know," she said. "But it has to be done. They were going to kill me anyway, weren't they?"

Kratos nodded. "Let's go, Rebecca."

Rebecca gave him a desperate look. "We can't just-"

Kratos gripped her arm firmly and pulled her out of the room. "It's time to leave." He looked back at Helen one more time, nodded slightly in farewell, and walked away.

* * *

"Why do you hate humans?" Rowan asked.

Veris looked up from his papers. "I don't hate humans. Does a butcher hate cattle? Does a fisherman hate fish? I merely don't _care_ about humans."

"Ok, but if a fish talked back and asked politely not to be killed, I'd let it go."

"And if did that when your job was to catch sapient fish, you'd be a very poor fisherman indeed." He looked back down at his work.

Rowan glared at him, and leaned back in the chair. When he'd come barging in here, he'd been expecting to either leave triumphantly or get killed. Being bored came as a surprise. He sat across from Veris with nothing to do while Veris filled out paperwork. He couldn't even entertain himself by reading Veris' work upside down, because he couldn't even read.

He tried whistling a tune. Veris hadn't even looked to say, "Please stop that." When Rowan didn't stop, Veris said, "I will be forced to cut you if you persist, and then I will be angry if you get blood on my chair."

Rowan decided not to risk it. It hadn't been a very good tune anyway. Rowan was getting quite bored of sitting quietly until his death. "So. Veris. Is that a last name? If it's a first name, your parents were monsters."

Veris slowed his writing and looked up. "What are you doing?"

"I'm bored. You're going to kill me anyway, right? So I might as well have a conversation."

"Hm…" He put his pen down. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?"

"I'd love to have a good reason for why you think it's ok to murder humans."

"Because humans think it's ok to hate and persecute half-elves."

"No, I hate half-elves because you guys killed my father and tortured me."

"This does pose an interesting dilemma, doesn't it?" Veris said, steeping his fingers. "It's like a unicorn. How was the first unicorn born?"

Rowan shrugged. He really didn't care about philosophic questions about unicorns right now. "I don't care who started it. I have a good reason to hate your race, but I've never done anything to you."

"If you get robbed by a human bandit, is that evidence that all humans are evil?"

"Well, no, but this is different. It's not just one half-elf who's done awful shit to me, it's the majority of them."

"Half-elves weren't always in power, you know," Veris said. "Back when the worlds were still together, humans trampled over half-elves and used them as cannon fodder."

"But that was centuries ago!"

"I was alive for it," Veris said. "Just because you're too young to remember doesn't mean it didn't happen. Do you have any idea how many half-elves died because humans didn't think their lives mattered? So please excuse me for not feeling sorry for humans when we dish out to them the exact same thing that happened to us."

They glared across the table. Rowan was dead-certain that his prejudice was the only one that was justified, and it pissed him off that Veris seemed to think the exact same of his own.

"You think humans are so great?" Veris said. "Just look out the window! Just a few words from me and they turned on each other like rats."

"Because you've been feeding them lies and bribing them with food and shelter." Rowan slammed his fists on the table and leaned forward. "You're brainwashing them into thinking they're free. But it's even worse because they're still prisoners, but they don't even realize it!"

"Don't fault me for discovering that a sense of security and a full belly make greater restraints than iron bars." Veris leaned forward as well. "They all _choose_ to stay here. If they wanted to leave, they're welcome to. I don't have the forces to hold them back, but no one wants to leave."

Rowan was going to speak again, but he heard the crackling of the intercom turning on.

Veris looked around in surprise. "Now where is that coming from?"

"Hello, fellow workers of the Southern Ranch." It was a woman's voice this time. She sounded tired, and vaguely familiar. "This is Helen speaking. You all know me, and I am pleased to say that I know most of you, as well. We have been through a lot together over the years."

Veris stood up and walked around the desk. He unlocked his door and shouted down the hall. "Where is this coming from?"

"I know from experience the joy and relief I felt when the former ranch was overthrown and Cardinal Veris so wonderfully open his doors to provide us with shelter and work."

"I want her off the announcement!" Veris shouted at someone down the hall. "Find where she's speaking from and stop her!"

"And I envy the children among us who are too young to have known anything different from a human ranch. These last ten years have been a dream. However, like all dreams, it must come to an end. This is a warning to all of you: the rabble-rousers who spoke of dark truths and terrible secrets were not misguided. You must stop your pursuit of them and allow them to leave. Anyone who wishes to leave this ranch should do so. If you stay, a dark fate awaits you. This is a decision you must all make for yourselves. Thank you." A click, and the voice was gone.

"All of you!" Veris shouted. "Why are you still standing around here? Go! Find her!"

Rowan got to his feet and hurried to the window, expecting to see throngs of workers streaming away from the ranch. Instead, everyone just stood around looking confused. "What's wrong, Veris?" he said. "I thought you said that you people wanted to leave they were free to do so?"

Her turned to glare at Rowan. "It's different when they are being provoked to leave by some inferior being on a microphone."

Rowan walked away from the window and met Veris in the middle of the room. He was taller than the Cardinal, if only by a bit. Veris still had the knife in his hand, but Rowan found that he wasn't afraid of him. Any time now, those people outside were going to gather their thoughts and abandon the ranch. Veris had sent all his Desians away chasing Helen. Maybe if he jumped him right now, took him by surprise, he might be able to overpower him and get the knife…

He heard running footsteps, and both he and Veris turned to see Pierce and Shea burst into the door, weapons drawn. Pierce looked considerably more threatening than Shea, who had only a small knife.

"It's over, Veris," Pierce said. "You heard that announcement. Your big secret is out. You don't have enough Desians to hold the place once the humans turn on you."

Veris frowned. He looked down at his beloved carpet with regret. Rowan grinned; this was better than he could have possibly hoped.

Veris slammed his fist forward, knife-end first, into Rowan's shoulder.

It didn't even hurt at first, because he was in too much shock to register that it had happened. He had acted on instinct the moment he saw a flicker of movement in Veris' hand, and it was lucky he had because the blade with have sunk into his throat had he not leaned to the side at the last second. The whole room froze and his body went numb for about three seconds, until with a bolt of agony Veris twisted the knife and yanked it out. Rowan shouted and clutched the wound, falling to his knees.

Veris didn't stick around to finish him off. He made a beeline for the door. Pierce lunged at him to try and stop him, but Veris fended him off with a slash of his knife. He took off down the hallway, his footsteps echoing as they grew farther and farther away. Rowan tried to get to his feet so he could run after him, but the pain in his shoulder was crippling and just the thought of moving his arm at all sent a new wave of pain through the wound.

He took a deep breath, and wondered why Pierce or Shea hadn't gone after Veris instead. He raised his head and saw Pierce lying on the ground, not moving, with Shea leaning over him. Veris' slash at him hadn't missed after all. A rapidly-expanding pool of blood soaked into Veris' nice white carpet from the deep gash across Pierce's throat.


	29. Things Left Behind

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: Things Left Behind**

"How could you have stopped there?" Lloyd shouted, smacking Kratos in the face with a pillow.

Kratos opened his eyes, looking quite confused as to why he'd woken up with a pillow in his face. "Lloyd…?"

"Get up," Lloyd demanded. "Everyone else is already up. We're docked in Flanoir but you have to tell us what happened."

Kratos sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What are you talking about, Lloyd?"

"I'm talking about how last night, you said 'oh yeah and then Rowan got stabbed and Pierce was bleeding to death, ok, goodnight.' And then we all had to go to sleep wondering what happened if they were alright, and you did this on purpose, didn't you?"

Kratos got to his feet. "Alright, I'll continue the story after breakfast."

"No!" Lloyd said. "You don't get to eat until you tell us if Pierce died."

"Hm…" Kratos rubbed his head. "You know, I actually don't remember. It's really hazy. It was four thousand years ago, my memory is failing me on the details now…"

"_Dad_!"

* * *

"Put pressure on your shoulder, Rowan," Shea said in a tight voice. "I'll get to you in a minute."

Rowan pushed his hand over the wound and slowly walked on his knees across the room. He took a small amount of pleasure in dripping blood on the carpet. The pleasure did very little to ease the horror he felt when he saw just how big the pool of blood around Pierce was. The coppery scent of blood clogged the air, and his stomach churned. Pierce was still breathing, but his breath came in short gasps that probably wouldn't last much longer.

"Shea," Rowan croaked, "I – I don't think an Apple Gel is going to fix this." This was his fault. It had been his stupid plan to attack Veris and then he'd let it blow up in his face. He was the one who had given Veris the knife in the first place. And now Pierce was going to die because he'd been so stupid and impulsive. He deserved this throbbing ache in his shoulder.

Shea leaned over Pierce. She gently rested her hands on the gash on his neck, but it wouldn't do much good. Pressure, bandages and gels weren't nearly enough to cure a wound like this. Shea's face strained as she realized that, too. While Rowan's whole body shook like it was threatening to boil over with all his fear, and grief, and pain, Shea sat still with a doctor's practiced calm.

And then green light burst to life in a circle around her. Rowan squinted against the sudden onslaught of light, his brain not registering exactly what was happening. He heard Shea speak in a soft voice, "Heal." Green light so bright it was almost white shone through the gaps in her fingers and cast a greenish glow across Pierce's pallid face.

The light died down, and Pierced took a great gasp of breath. He tried to mumble something, but Shea said, "Sh. Don't try to talk just yet." She reached into her bag and pulled out an Apple Gel. "You've lost a lot of blood. Eat this. It'll help." She supported his head enough to sit up and swallow the gel. Then she looked over to Rowan, and said, "Rowan, please don't-"

"What the _hell_ was that?"

"I just-"

"You used magic! You can use magic? Humans can't use magic!"

"Let me explain-"

"You're not a half-elf, are you?"

"…Yes."

"You can't be." He took deep breaths, trying to process what had happened. Pierce was alive and that was good, but Shea was a half-elf and that was impossible. "You… you're nice. You don't _look_ like a half-elf. How can you be… what…"

She pulled out a cloth from her bag and cleaned the blood off her hands. It didn't do much good, because she also had blood soaked into her knees from the pool on the ground, and splattered across her shirt from the spraying of the wound itself. It didn't seem to bother her. She got to her feet and approached him, but Rowan scrambled backward. It sent a stab of pan through his shoulder and blood soaked his shirt.

"D-don't touch me. You've been lying to us all along! You – you're one of them! Why did you lie about this?"

"Because I knew you'd react like this!" She grabbed his arm and gripped him tightly, while planting her other hand over his wound. "I _said_ to keep pressure on this."

Green light welled up around her once more, and Rowan realized he was about to be healed magically. This scared him, because he didn't trust magic. Well, there was angel magic like what Spirit and Kratos had, but that was different. This was half-elf magic, and Desians used it to persecute humans, and how did he know it was safe? He didn't want magic used on him, but there was no stopping Shea.

With fire in her voice, she said, "Heal."

A tingling sensation ran through the wound and the pain ebbed away. It was like super-strength Apple Gel, and left the area feeling stiff and numb but totally pain free.

She still stood very close to him, and her fingers dug into his arm almost painfully. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you the truth," she said. "But I've had too many bad run-ins with humans to let my race be known. I am _not_ a Desian. I am a doctor, and you are only alive thanks to me using healing magic on you after Cleopolica, so pull yourself together and get over it."

She shoved him back and turned around to return to Pierce. She knelt next to him and helped him sit up. The shock was dying down. He looked at her, and he didn't see a half-elf, he saw Shea. She was still Shea, wasn't she? He wanted to kick himself. Of course she wasn't a Desian. That was just stupid. It had been all the shock, pain and chaos of the last few minutes overwhelming his ability to think logically and jumping to instinctive conclusions. Shea was a half-elf, but she wasn't a bad one. She was like Isaac and Todd. In fact, all the half-elves he'd met that weren't Desians had been very nice. This wasn't what he'd learned about half-elves at all.

"Help me," Shea said. "He's lost a lot of blood, but we need to get out of here."

Rowan nodded dumbly, and then helped Shea stand Pierce up. He was bigger than both of them and his armour made him rather heavy, so it took both of them supporting him to drag him out of the room.

"I'm sorry," Rowan said, not look at Shea. "I... I over reacted."

"It's alright. I'm used to it."

"Thanks for, you know… saving my life."

"It's my job." Luckily there weren't any Desians in the hallway. None of them were equipped for a fight right now. Pierce was alive, but he was barely conscious and covered in blood.

"You've been healing my arm, haven't you?" Rowan asked. "That's why it healed so fast."

She nodded wearily. "At night when you were asleep. Enough to speed up recovery but not enough to be blatantly magical. I used magic on it when I first found you, too. When I told you that had you had any other doctor you'd never use that arm again, I wasn't joking. Without magical healing, you would have died, or at the very least you would have lost that arm. It was totally crushed."

There was a maze of corridors to get to the stairs, but Shea had navigated them in reverse to get to the office in the first place, so she didn't have too much trouble leading them out. Going down the stairs was difficult and they nearly dropped Pierce, but thankfully arrived at the bottom in one piece.

"What are we going to do about Veris?" Rowan asked. "He got away."

"Don't worry about him," Shea said. "Hopefully someone else caught him as he made a run for it."

They found a door and exited to the outside. They had barely taken a few steps away from the building before a blue-winged blur swooped down in front of them. Rowan smiled. "Hey, Spirit."

She looked angry, like she was considering slapping him. "Stop getting into trouble."

"Ah… sorry."

He heard more running footsteps, and saw Rebecca and Kratos coming their way. "Hey, Ginger, you're alive!" Rebecca said. "Here, these are yours, right?" She handed him his weapons, which he gratefully took. "Found them in a store room on our wait out of the transfer centre."

"What happened to Veris?" Kratos asked.

"Got away," Shea said. "Where are the Desians?"

"Trying to find him or Helen, I believe," Kratos said. "We need to leave the ranch now."

Rowan spotted Todd and Martha walking toward them. A lot of the humans were still standing around, looking confused. Only a few of them carried bags and belongings, packed and ready to go.

"Everyone!" Rebecca shouted, cupping her mouth with her hands and projecting her voice. "You heard what Helen said! We're leaving this ranch right now and if you want to live, you should come with us!"

Nobody moved. They glanced uncertainly at the ranch, and then at the group, and many of them hung their heads.

"Let's go," Kratos said. "They'll follow if they wish."

Rebecca said, "But-"

"We've done everything we can."

Kratos took over supporting Pierce, which was much easier for him because they were about the same height. Pierce was gradually regaining consciousness, and stumbled along with slow footsteps. Spiritua led the way out of the ranch. Behind her, their group was tailed by a handful of humans. As they walked down the dirt road through the fields, human workers stopped to watch them. They had sad expressions, but none of them got up to follow. It was the worst walk Rowan had ever been on, because everywhere he looked he saw humans who were choosing to stay and die but there was nothing he could do for them.

He wondered about Helen. Rebecca had hastily explained what happened, and he wondered if she'd been caught. If she was, she'd most likely be killed. With them gone, there was no one left to fight against Veris. They hadn't even managed to take him out. They had a small band of humans who risked leaving, but at least ninety percent of the ranch's population was still there, toiling for a few years until their own inevitable 'transfer.'

They were tired, they were injured, they were disheartened and they were disappointed. They had failed.

* * *

"Can I eat breakfast now?" Kratos asked.

Lloyd raised his head from staring at the ground. "I… guess so."

Kratos stood and left the circled group of friends behind in search of food. Nobody talked much after he left. They were all feeling glum about the resolution of the story. When Kratos returned with a bagel, Lloyd looked up and asked, "Hey, Dad? What happened to Veris?"

"Nothing happened to him." Kratos sat down again.

"What do you mean, nothing?" Lloyd asked. "You mean he just… got away with everything?"

Kratos nodded while swallowing a bite of bagel. Then he said, "That's right. After we left, he resumed control of the ranch and operated it until the world regeneration. Then he transferred to Tethe'alla and ran a ranch there. I think he bounced between the worlds a couple times, before dying of old age several centuries after we met him."

Sheena frowned. "So, he just… got away?"

"That's right."

Zelos seemed equally displeased. "Man, that is bullshit."

Regal said, "We must remember, there have been thousands of years of human ranches. One Grand Cardinal escaping without comeuppance is hardly a rare occurrence."

"That just makes it even worse!" Sheena said.

Colette forced a smile. "But, at least there won't be any more. There were a lot of bad Cardinals, but we put a stop to it so it won't ever happen again."

"That's something, I guess," Lloyd said.

* * *

They reached a small village on the coast that evening. The party had trudged along in silence for the most part, no one wanting to talk about what had happened at the ranch. They were even farther away from Thoda Island now, since the road they'd followed had led them southwest. A few of the refugees from the ranch had come from this village originally, so they could promise that there'd be food and shelter at least if they went this way. A lot of the small huts were abandoned, since so many residents had gone to work at the ranch. There were still a few stragglers living there who came out to greet them, but not many.

"You're welcome to stay in any empty house you find," a man said to the non-local crowd. For now, though, everyone milled around in the town square, not sure what to do with themselves.

"What are we supposed to do now?" someone else asked.

Rowan said, "Get some dinner. Go to sleep."

Spiritua rolled her eyes. That obviously wasn't what they wanted to know. Now that they'd left the ranch, they were in just as desperate circumstances as they'd been before they were driven to the ranch in pursuit of work, but now they knew that their friends and families were going to be killed. She didn't blame them for being at a loss for what to do.

"You can go back to your own towns," Rebecca suggested.

The group of refugees looked to each other. "A lot of us would be the only one in the village if we went back," Martha said. "We're from all over the Palm Coast; we met at the ranch. And even if we did go home, what would we do there? Crops aren't growing and fish aren't biting." A lot of them were sitting now, looking glum.

"It will get better," Shea said. "Once the Chosen regenerates the world, things will start turning up again."

The group didn't seem too uplifted by this. They muttered amongst themselves, and Spirit overheard some disparaging comments being thrown around about Martel.

"How are you so sure Martel's really gonna regenerate the world?" someone said. "Why hasn't she done anything before, huh? Why'd she let the world get this bad in the first place?"

Next to Spirit, Pierce said, "Spiritua, you need to say something." His voice was rough and shaky, and there was a red line across his throat, but there was a lot more colour on his face now. He still hadn't had time to wash all the blood away, but he seemed to be stable.

"Me?" she said.

He nodded. "You're the Chosen. Reassure them."

Spiritua looked at the motely group of grumpy refugees and tried to imagine speaking in front of them. Her hands felt clammy just imagining it. She quickly shook her head. "I don't give speeches."

Rebecca, who had overheard their conversation, turned to her. "Pierce is right, Spirit. They need to hear from the Chosen."

"You're a Chosen." It was odd to think that there were two Chosen Ones now. It took some of the pressure off, though, because it was nice to know that Rebecca understood some of what she was going through.

Rebecca shook her head. "I'm Tethe'alla's Chosen. They need _Sylvarant's_ Chosen. Go on, I've done this hundreds of times. Just tell them about how awesome Martel is and that everything will be ok. Oh, you should take your wings out, too. It will make sure they believe in the angel thing."

Spirit shook her head quickly, not even wanting to consider this. She could still hear the refugees arguing behind her. Shea and Todd were doing their best to give them hope, but it wasn't working. It probably would help to hear from the Chosen, but the idea of getting up and speaking before a big group of people scared her even more than breaking into a ranch.

"Spirit," Pierce said, "look across the crowd. Do you see Rowan standing over there?"

She followed his gaze and found Rowan, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed, looking sullen. She nodded.

"Pretend you're talking to him. Keep your eyes on him and ignore everyone else. You can talk to Rowan, can't you?"

She hesitated, and then nodded. Talking to Rowan was easy. It would be hard to forget everyone else was there, though….

"Hey!" Rebecca shouted, walking out in front of everyone. "Listen. How many of you believe in Martel?" A scattering of hands went up. Some barely rose higher than their chests before quickly being pulled down. "Well, the great thing about Martel is that even if you don't believe in her, she's still going to save you. To tell you more, I want you to meet Sylvarant's very own Chosen of Mana." She gestured her arm in Spirit's direction, and all eyes fell on her.

It was like getting attention from a pack of wolves. Pierce gently nudged her back and pushed her forward. She took a few uncertain steps and came to stand next to Rebecca. Her hands shook, and it took a few tries to find her voice. "H-Hi," she said.

They didn't seem impressed.

"My – my name is Spiritua. And… I'm the Chosen." She saw that most of their faces remained unconvinced, and remembered Rebecca's advice. She unfurled her wings, and floated about a foot of the ground. The blue-ish light illuminated the shocked faces of the front row. "I… Martel… we're going to s-save…" It felt like she had to drag every word through molasses to get it out of her mouth. She couldn't do this. This was so much harder than facing monsters. At least with monsters, she just had to grab her bow and shoot them to make them go away, but she didn't have that sense of control with an audience.

She remembered what Pierce said, and looked across to Rowan. He was watching, and when she met his eyes he gave her a small smile. She took a deep breath, kept her eyes focused on him, and said, "I know that Martel hasn't done anything for you. I know that you feel abandoned, and desperate, and hopeless. I know this, because I felt that way, too." It was easier if she ignored the audience. She tried to convince herself that she was talking to Rowan alone, and had to raise her voice a bit to make sure he could hear her all the way over there.

"I've believed in Martel for four years," she said. "I would be lying if I said that ever since I found her, I haven't had any doubts. The world _is_ a mess, and we _are_ in trouble. I prayed that Martel would fix things and send the Desians away and make everything better. But… she didn't." She clenched her fists and hoped Kratos wasn't upset by what she was saying. "And then I became the Chosen. Through Martel, I have been given amazing power. Through her, _I _can fix things. I realized that Martel isn't a goddess who will fix all our problems for us; she's someone who gives us the strength to save ourselves. She gave me angelic power that I can use to regenerate the world, but even if you're not the Chosen, she still gives you strength. She gives you something to believe in, something to make the world less dark and lonely. She provides us with hope, to drive us forward and trust that the world will get better. So… that's why I believe in Martel." Her eyes wavered from Rowan just a second to look out over the group of refugees. They didn't look as angry or desperate as they had before, and she took that as a good sign. She had to look back to Rowan before continuing to speak, though.

"I'm not going to ask you to believe in Martel. I think… coming to believe in her is something that you have to do by yourself. But, I do ask that you believe in me. I am going to regenerate the world." She really was speaking to Rowan now. He needed to hear this. "I'm not going to back down, even if I'm scared or it hurts or it's hard. This world _will_ be regenerated, and the Desians will go away, and all I ask is that you trust in me and keep moving forward yourselves. Even if you don't think it's coming from Martel, everyone has the strength to make the world better, even if it's just little things. So… yes. I – I don't think I have anything else to say. Thank you."

She pulled in her wings and dropped to the ground. No one spoke, and she quickly walked away, back to Pierce and Rebecca. Pierce clapped his hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile. "You did really well, Spirit."

She was just happy to be out of the limelight.

Pierce left to find somewhere to sleep. Spirit was happy to see everyone leave, because after getting up and speaking in front of a group she just wanted to be alone for a little while. She found a dying tree and sat among the roots, watching the small village head to bed. It was going to be another long night.

"Hey, Spirit." She looked up and saw Rebecca coming over. "Not going to sleep?"

"Don't sleep," she said.

"That's a Chosen thing, right?" She sat down on a root next to her.

Spiritua nodded. She had nothing against Rebecca, but wasn't keen on having a conversation right now.

"You gave a wonderful speech, by the way," Rebecca said. "When I first started preaching about Martel, I was really scared, too. I thought, why would all these people listen to me? I'm just some girl. I didn't feel like I was good enough to be the Chosen. I thought they would see through me instantly and even though I presented myself as a respectable religious figure, they'd all know I was really just some girl from a backwoods town who had all of this mystical Chosen stuff thrown on my shoulders only a few months previously."

Spiritua looked up, and Rebecca smiled at her. Everything Rebecca had said hit home completely. She wasn't a glorious angelic being, she was just some girl from a little fishing town. It hadn't been that long ago that her biggest worries in life were things like cleaning the house or helping her mom cook dinner. And then Kratos had shown up and hurled her into a life of angels and magic and saving the world. Every time she acted as the Chosen, she felt like a little girl playing dress up.

Spiritua didn't say anything, but Rebecca seemed to understand her emotions. Rebecca probably understood better than anyone.

Rebecca said, "The trick is to act like you know what you're doing. If you fake confidence, everyone will assume you really do know what you're doing because the truth is, they're all just as uncertain as we are. And if you fake confidence long enough it becomes second nature and then that's basically real confidence."

Spirit nodded slowly. She didn't know if she totally understood what Rebecca meant, but it sounded nice. Rebecca had been a much better choice as a Chosen than her. Rebecca was pretty and confident and could talk to people without freezing up. She could easily be the face of the religion across Tethe'alla.

"I'll help you out until I go back to Tethe'alla," Rebecca said. "I mean, we're both Chosens, right? We should stick together."

Spiritua smiled a bit and whispered, "Thanks."

Rebecca pumped her fist in the air. "I got a word!" She stood up, brushed off her dress, and said, "Sorry to leave you, but I need some sleep. 'Night."

She walked off, and Spirit leaned back against the tree, feeling a bit better. She curled up at the base of the tree and waited for dawn.

* * *

After everything they'd gone though, Martha decided not to accompany them. They were given a boat; someone from the ranch said it belonged to a friend of his who had been transferred two months prior, so wouldn't object to them taking it. Since they didn't need her boat, Rowan could sail it for them. Besides, Martha had declared that she had no intention of going back to Thoda and was going to stay here with the rest of the ranch escapees.

There was just one more thing to sort out before they departed.

"I want to come with you," Todd said as they stood on the dock.

"No," Kratos immediately said.

"Why not?" Todd asked, crossing his arms.

"Why should we?"

"Because the more backup you have, the better your chances."

Rowan, who was already on the boat, leaned over the railing. "I'm fine with him coming," he said. "Todd saved my life. He could be useful to have around."

"It's not like I can't fight," Todd said. "Although, I did have to borrow a new knife here, because _somebody_," he glared at Rowan, "lost mine after I specifically told him to bring it back."

Rowan grinned and shrugged. It wasn't _his_ fault Veris had run off with it.

Kratos, looking entirely unimpressed and slightly annoyed, said, "Fine. Why not? It was originally going to be just Spiritua and me on this quest, but that hope is long gone. What's one more tag-a-long? I'm not responsible if you get yourself killed."

Todd smiled. "Alright! You don't have to worry about me."

As they set out, Todd turned out to be even more useful, since by virtue of growing up in a coastal town, he knew his way around a boat. Between Rowan captaining the boat, which was named _Dorothy_ for some reason, and Spirit and Todd knowing what he was talking about when he gave orders, they were able to get under way in good time.

While Noishe made friends with a seagull, the salty wind washed away all the stress, pain, and frustration of yesterday. _Dorothy_ was larger than the Desian boat they'd stolen earlier, and had an actual steering wheel rather than just a tiller. Rowan was quite comfortable sitting near the stern of the boat with the wheel, watching the endless horizon of the ocean. The rocking of the boat skimming through the waves was relaxing.

It was not, however, relaxing for Shea. Her sea legs had not improved since the last time they were on a boat, and she walked with all the grace and balance of a drunk duck. She practically fell into the bench across from the steering wheel.

"Good morning," Rowan said.

Shea grumbled something that sounded very much like incredibly foul language directed at Rowan and his "good" morning.

"Still not a fan of the ocean, I see."

She rolled her eyes. "I grew up in a desert, ok? This is awful. Why won't the ground stop _moving_?"

"Because it's not ground," Rowan said. "It's water."

"Wow! Ok, great, and the gold star for stating the obvious goes to…"

Rowan shook his head. "The ocean is amazing, you know. It goes down for miles and miles. There must be fish and creatures down there that no one has ever seen and that have never even seen daylight. I mean, we think about Tethe'alla as this mysterious other world, but from what Rebecca's said it's just like Sylvarant but with different cities. Everyone just ignores that we have an entire alien world right here, just below the water. It's incredible."

"Ugh," Shea said. "No offense, Rowan, but hearing about how vast and mysterious and wet the ocean is doesn't make me feel any better about bobbing along on top of it."

"If you feel so terrible, just magically heal yourself." He pretended to be engaged in steering so that he didn't have to look at her, because he knew his comment had been filled with resentment. Steering wasn't a huge issue right now, of course. They were travelling with the wind, and as long as he kept the land to his left they wouldn't get lost.

"It doesn't work like that," Shea said. "You can't just First Aid away nausea."

"Well, apparently you don't First Aid away anything," Rowan said. "What's the point of pretending you're a normal doctor if you can just magically heal people? Isn't magical healing always superior?"

"It's complicated," Shea said. "I only use magic on half-elves or humans I know I can trust. Practical medicine lets me tend to the humans who need help, but whom I can't risk exposing myself to."

Rowan twisted in his chair to finally look at her. "So, what, if a human is hurt beyond traditional healing, you won't magically save them?"

Shea looked down with a painful expression. "Not if I can't know for sure that they'll be receptive to a half-elf."

"So you just let humans die?"

She jerked her head up with fire in her eyes. "Do you think it's an easy choice for me? If someone I can't trust finds out that I'm a half-elf, they might turn against me and report me to the police. It's happened to me before. Master Boltzman and I got chased out of Iselia after a human I healed realized I wasn't human. I can't take that risk. If I get arrested, I can't help _anyone_." She clenched her fists. "Deciding that I can't risk saving someone for the sake of all my other patients is the hardest thing I've _ever_ had to do. I'm not arguing this with you. You have no idea."

She glared at him in defiance, and Rowan's anger slipped away. Shea's life was a lot more complicated than he'd considered. In a softer voice, he said, "You saved me."

She twisted and crossed her arms on the railing of the boat. "You were unconscious and had no friends or family hanging around. It was safe enough to use magic to pull you up from the brink of death. Besides, I saw what you, Pierce, and Lieutenant Ferris did for Cleopolica. I figured, anyone the Desians felt the need to publically execute had to be a good person."

Rowan hesitated, then said, "Shea, I really am sorry about how I reacted in Veris' office. I know you're a good person. I don't think you're an evil Desian or anything like that."

She turned her head a bit to look at him. "Don't tell me that the things I've done have proved that I'm a good person, and then say that the awful things Desians do prove that half-elves in general are terrible. Because then if a human does something great, suddenly it's proof that humanity as a whole is wonderful and if they do something bad, then that is a really terrible individual." She sighed. "I'm not even half-elf. I'm quarter-elf. My mom was a half-elf, but my dad was human. I should be thankful; everyone thinks half-elves look more like elves, but I can pass as human pretty easily. No one expects someone with elf blood to be brown."

Rowan didn't say anything. He stared at the horizon, lost in thought. He wanted to understand Shea and what her life was like, and he wanted to work out how people like Shea, Todd, Isaac and his family worked into the world view he'd been told his entire life. Between this and the idea that angels were real and maybe Martel really did exist, and that Tethe'alla hadn't disappeared completely and was still thriving and living just fine somewhere else, he wasn't sure what to believe about anything anymore.

Luckily, Pierce appeared and kept him from having to think of a response. "Ah, there you are, Shea. I was looking for you."

"Oh, hey, Pierce," she said. She still looked annoyed and ready to throw up at any moment, but she smiled nonetheless. "How do you feel?"

He sat down next to her. "Much better, thanks to you."

"That's not saying much," Shea said. "Without me, you'd be dead, so even barely clinging to life by a thread is 'much better' compared to that."

"You know… if you had let me die, there wouldn't be anyone to escort you back to Cleopolica. You'd have been free to go."

She scowled. "I know. Don't remind me."

"But you saved me anyway."

"I'm a doctor. It's what I do."

Pierce folded his hands and seemed to struggle to finds words. "I can't pardon you for your crimes. Saving my life doesn't erase your criminal past. But I was thinking, the exact punishment for your crime is more variable. So, maybe, instead of jail time, you could perform community service."

Rowan looked up with a grin. "Does assisting in the regeneration of the world count as community service?"

Pierce smiled. "It's certainly a great service to the world-wide community, don't you think?"

Realization slowly spread across Shea's face. "Really?"

"I think it's appropriate."

She smiled brightly and looked like she was going to speak again, but then _Dorothy_ hit a large swell, nausea gripped her face, and she vomited over the side. "Ugh…" she moaned. "I _hate_ boats."

Pierce said, "Er… maybe you should go lie down."

* * *

The wind had died down a bit after the sun went down. They were still making fairly good time, and Rowan suspected they'd reach Thoda Island by morning. The rest of the group had long gone to bed in the bunks below decks, leaving him alone with the ship, the night sky and the sea. It was peaceful.

He heard footsteps, and glanced to the side to see Spirit approaching him. He was about to ask if she was having trouble sleeping, but then remembered and felt stupid.

"How long until we reach Thoda?" Spirit asked.

"We'll probably get there tomorrow."

"Oh." She gazed ahead, letting the cool breeze whip her hair back.

"Spirit," Rowan said, "what was all that you said last night about regenerating the world no matter what?"

"I meant what I said," she said.

"I thought we agreed that we were going to find a way to regenerate the world without you becoming an angel."

"I don't think we can," she said.

"You said you didn't want to be an angel."

"I don't!" She hung her head. "I really do want to be human. But finding another way might take a long time, and I don't think the world has time to wait. You saw what happened at the Southern Ranch. We won at the Cleopolica Ranch, but this just proves that taking the ranches down one by one is not going to work. People are dying every day because of Desians. I _have_ to stop them."

"You don't have to do anything," Rowan said. "Not if you don't want to."

"This isn't about me," she said. "I couldn't live with myself if I knew people were suffering and dying, and I could have stopped it but didn't because I was scared. There isn't time to find another way."

Rowan gripped the steering wheel tightly. It felt like Spirit was slipping away from him, and she didn't even want him to save her. "So you're just going to waltz into that Seal and let Yuan take more of your humanity away?"

"If it will save all the people we left behind at the ranch… yes."

"Dammit, Spirit. You don't owe the world your life."

"But I made a promise. And I'm going to live up to it." She frowned, and then glanced up at the moon. "It's late. You should go to bed," she said.

"I can stay up a bit longer before dropping anchor," he said.

"We don't have to stop," she said. "I can steer. I don't need to stop to sleep."

_Don't remind me_, Rowan thought. What he said, though, was, "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said. "You taught me how to sail when I was younger, remember? I grew up in Luin, too. I know my way around a boat."

"Well… ok." He stood up and let her take the captain's seat. "Remember that if anything goes wrong, pull all the sails out of the winches to make it stop. I'll be right below if you need me. Wake me up if you see the island ahead. Wake me up if there's any rough water, too. Or storm clouds. Or any clouds that might be stormy. Or if you see rocks. Or if the wind changes. Or-"

"Rowan. Go to bed. I know what I'm doing."

Rowan hesitated. Spirit sat behind the wheel with confidence. She did know what she was doing. She wasn't his helpless baby sister who couldn't take care of herself. Their dad had told Rowan to look after her, but maybe what that meant in this case was giving her the space and responsibility to look after herself. It certainly wouldn't be the strangest fact of the world he'd had to accept lately.

* * *

A/N: Hey folks, I added a new poll. Fairly straightforward "who's your favourite character?" I included Rebecca and Todd because officially they're part of the team now, but since they've only been around for a few chapters I don't expec them to get many votes. If youw ant to include in a review _why_ so-and-so is your favourite, I'd be delighted and interested to hear!


	30. The Dead Island

**Chapter Thirty: The Dead Island**

The streets of Flanoir were busy with mid-morning shoppers. Lloyd was eager to keep moving to Palmacosta, but since the shipping wasn't leaving until later this afternoon, he figured they might was well stretch their legs and take a walk around town.

Lloyd and Colette strolled down a curving road, pointing out funny things for sale in shop windows. They saw a few versions of various Sylvarant guidebooks, intending to teach Tethe'allans about their new neighbours. Lloyd flipped through a copy of one of these, but threw it down in disgust after reading that Sylvarant was a primitive land of limited technology, and it was every Tethe'allan's duty to try and civilize the new country. Some stores sold maps of the new world, but every map was completely different and no one seemed to know that Katz Island even existed.

He was about to point to a snowman shaped like a penguinist when a snowball smacked into the back of his head. He whirled around and heard Zelos shout, "Score!" Behind a low brick wall, Zelos, Sheena, and Presea crouched.

"Hey! What was that for?" Lloyd brushed snow out of the back of his hair.

"Just trying to get your attention," Zelos said. "Worked, didn't it?"

"You could have just asked."

Presea said, "Regal asked us to inform you that he and Kratos are having a drink at a café down the block. He said we should meet up for lunch."

"Oh, that sounds really nice," Colette said. "Let's go, Lloyd."

"Yeah, ok," Lloyd said. "But I'm walking behind Zelos."

* * *

Two small boats bobbed at the dock at Thoda Island. There were no signs of any of the sailors. The island was rocky, with no proper beach. Spiritua found this disconcerting, since it kept the island itself unseen and mysterious. She had no idea what she expected to find ashore, but whatever it was, it had kept two different crews of sailors from returning to their boats.

"Are we sure it's safe to go ashore?" Rebecca asked, leaning on the railing and looking up at the island. She had not been very thrilled when the others filled her in on the story behind this island.

"It will be fine," Kratos said. "Cruxis wouldn't send us anywhere deadly."

"Especially not somewhere inhabited by giant deadly monsters like lions and snakes," Rowan said. "Oh, wait."

Kratos glared at him. "Of course the seal itself will be dangerous," he said. "That's the point. But stepping on the island itself is not going to kill us."

Rowan leapt off the side of the ship and tied a rope around a post on the dock. "Although, I would like to point out that the lion lady at the Tower of Mana only attacked us because you wouldn't let me answer the damn riddle."

Kratos didn't reply. Spiritua wondered if he was actively trying to forget that that had happened.

"Wait, what's this?" Shea asked. She sat on the dock, her hands on the wood at her sides like she was trying to cling to ground and never let it go away again. "I haven't heard this story."

"Oh, it's great," Rowan said. Todd tossed him the other ropes he needed to safely secure _Dorothy_ to the dock. "The first seal was a test of the mind or something, and the monster just asked us riddles. We couldn't fight it at all. Kratos and Spirit got the first two riddles easy, and then it came to the third one and I knew the answer but Kratos didn't trust me so he attacked the monster and almost got us killed."

"_You_ knew the answer?" Shea asked, looking impressed.

Rowan glared at her. "Yes. Why does everyone find that so hard to believe?"

Shea stammered, "Well, it's just, you – you've never shown yourself to be – well – you know…"

Rowan rolled his eyes. "I'm uneducated, not stupid."

"Sorry…"

The rest of the group climbed down from the boat and began to walk up the twisty path to the island proper. They cleared the last turn of the path and stepped into an awful scene. Dead bodies everywhere. There were at least fifteen of them, crumpled on the ground in various stages of decay.

"What… what is this?" Rowan asked, gaping at the scene in horror.

Todd sounded sick when he said, "The sailors from Thoda that came to investigate."

"What killed them?" Rebecca asked. "Was it Desians?"

Shea was the first to approach them. She reached into her bag and pulled out a pair of gloves, which she put on before touching the body. After a long minute, she stood up and said, "It wasn't Desians. There aren't any signs of wounds."

"Then… what killed them?" Rowan asked.

Shea shrugged. "I can't tell. As far as I can see, they all just… dropped dead."

Spiritua had very little hope that things would be any better inside the temple itself. Stone steps carved into the cliff curved around a pool of bubbling water, leading up to a cave entrance.

"There's no point standing around out here," Shea said. "We might as well face whatever's inside."

"Careful," Rebecca said as Kratos started up the steps. "Whatever killed these people might still be in there."

"Unlikely," Kratos said. "These people dropped dead right where we're standing. If whatever did it was still active, we'd be dead already."

"Well, that's comforting," Pierce said.

Todd asked, "What is that awful smell?"

Spiritua followed him up the stone steps. The water in the pool was bubbling, which was slightly disconcerting. She definitely knew what Rowan was talking about – she couldn't smell anything beyond the cloying odour of rotten eggs.

"It's the geyser," Shea said. "It smells like sulphur. If it starts bubbling really hard, make a run for the cave entrance up ahead because we don't want to be on these steps when a burst of scalding water shoots up."

Spirit looked to the bubbling pool with renewed interest and horror.

At the top of the stairs, they entered a long tunnel that led into the temple. As soon as they entered, Spirit knew that it was only going to get worse from here. Dead bodies lay strewn down the path. Men, women, and children, lying where they'd died. While walking down the hall, they sometimes had step over or around a body that was blocking the path.

"Kratos," Rebecca said, "does Cruxis know about this?"

"I didn't," Kratos said. "If anyone else at Cruxis does, they didn't tell me."

The further they travelled into the temple, the more bodies they found. Some were next to fallen books or dropped food. Some were slumped over in chairs. At least one sat on a bench in an alcove with an open book still lying open on its lap, a small child collapsed against it.

"How long have they been dead?" Todd asked, looking at the small child with pity in his eyes.

Shea frowned. "I don't know exactly. But judging by how decayed they are, and how they don't even smell any more, I'd say over a month, maybe two."

And they were all just… left here. No one even knew that they were here. That was the worst part, Spiritua thought. It seemed everyone on the island had died, and now there was no one left to keep them alive in their memories. At the very least, she assumed that they had died quick and hopefully painlessly. If it had been long and drawn out, they wouldn't have just slumped over in chairs.

"It's possible this was some kind of gas," Shea said. "Gas leaks aren't unheard of in areas with volcanos or geysers."

"Do you think it could leak again?" Todd asked.

"Unlikely," Kratos said. "Nothing like this has ever happened before. It won't happen twice in the span of two months."

"Todd," Rowan asked, "did you guys in Thoda have much interaction with the people of the temple?"

Todd shook his head. "They came to buy goods sometimes, but they mostly kept to themselves. They had a distress signal in case anything went disastrously wrong, since they were just a small group of people on an island, but… apparently that didn't do them much good. I tried talking to them when they did come into town, though. I didn't have many friends because… you know, half-elf, but they didn't speak Sylvaranti very well."

"Huh?" Rowan said. "I thought everyone spoke Sylvaranti?"

"Excuse me," Rebecca said, "the language is called Tethe'allan, thank you."

Rowan glared at her. "It's Sylvaranti."

"Tethe'allan."

"Sylvaranti."

"Children," Pierce growled, and they gave him sheepish looks.

Shea said, "There are, actually, more languages in the world than just the common tongue." She carefully avoided calling it either Sylvaranti or Tethe'allan to avoid careful dispute. "There's a Trietan language, too. But, uh, I only know a few words of it because the half-elves in the Triet oasis speak Sylvaranti and I never met my dad's side."

Kratos nodded. "That's correct. The people of Thoda Island are from a different ethnic group. They're technically Sylvaranti because Sylvarant colonized them during the war, just like they did the Triet region."

"So they're Sylvaranti but also not Sylvaranti?" Rowan asked.

"What he means," Shea said, "is that 'Sylvaranti' refers to ethnicity, like you, Spirit, and Pierce, and also a nationality, like all of us except Rebecca and Kratos. So, the people of Thoda Island were a distinct group like Trietans."

"That's really cool," Rowan said. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the otherwise silent stone hallway. "It makes Luin seem so… boring. All I ever knew my entire life were Sylvaranti humans like me. Looking back now, it seems just like skimming across the top of the ocean, with no idea of the entire world right below you."

They reached the end of a long stone hall and came out on a balcony that wrapped around a huge open area. Instead of a floor down below, dark water shimmered in the little light provided through small openings and slits in the cavern. It would have been beautiful if it weren't for the corpses peppering the balcony and the paths around the lake below. The light bounced off the water and cast shimmering highlights on the colourful walls. The walls themselves were covered in mosaics made of thousands of pieces of colourful tiles embedded in the stone. The images formed a horseshoe wrapping around the cavern, starting just to their left above the balcony and coming around to end to their right. Swirling patterns of water formed borders around four distinct scenes that made up the horseshoe, before blending into a massive image of Undine herself on the ceiling.

"I see why they chose this place to build their temple," Rowan said, leaning over the railing. "I bet the temple was beautiful and thriving before… you know…"

"It must have taken forever to create those mosaics," Shea said, staring up at them in fascination. "They're beautiful."

Spirit's eyes drifted across the scenes in the mural. The first one showed Thoda Island in the midst of a festival of some sort, with bright, swirling colours and banners and people packed on hillside outside the temple. The second one suddenly got dark, as it depicted a massive, tentacled behemoth snatching people off the shore as water surged around it. Next to that was a collage of warriors, equipped with swords, helmets and spears. From the perspective of the mosaic, they seemed to be charging directly at the viewer, as if they were about to burst out. The final picture was very similar to the first, but without the bright colours and indicators of celebration. It showed a peaceful Thoda Island, the sky depicted in warm oranges and reds.

She pointed to the first mural and said. "It's a story."

Rowan followed her finger and looked around the horseshoe of images. His eyes went wide with realization. "You're right." He pointed as well. "They're celebrating something, but then a monster attacks and interrupts the festival. Then their warriors appear to do battle with the beast, and the island is left in peace once more."

"It must be a legend from a long time ago," Shea said.

"That is a really cool way to record history," Rowan said.

"Not very practical, though," Rebecca said. "Can you imagine having to make a mural to record, like, tax reform?"

"I don't even know what tax reform _is_," Rowan said.

"Lucky you," she replied. "I had to learn all about it in my 'make Rebecca a proper and educated young lady' classes."

"We should keep moving," Kratos said. "The third seal is still further in."

The sight of the mosaic mural had only served to make Spirit sadder. It really sunk home that this had been an entire culture, but in one fell swoop they'd been wiped out. Were there any Thoda Islanders left? Had their entire race gone extinct, leaving behind only monuments and murals to remember them? The worst part was that she didn't even feel like there was anything she could do about it. Unlike the people at the ranch, regenerating the world wouldn't do anything to prevent natural disaster like this.

They followed the balcony as it curved around the lake, and then walked down stone steps to the path at its shore. The still lake was a deep midnight blue. Rowan stopped and stared at it. "Is this ocean water or fresh water from a spring like the geyser?"

"I'm not sure," Shea said.

He knelt in the edge of the path and reached his finger into the lake. After licking it, he thought for a moment and said, "Well, it's not salty. But there's something…" He reached his hand in again and took a tiny sip of water. "That's weird. It tastes… bubbly."

"Bubbly?" Todd said. "How can water be bubbly?"

"I don't know," Rowan said. "It's just faintly fizzy."

Shea rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't encourage anyone else to try. It's not healthy to go around drinking water from strange lakes."

"I just had a tiny sip," Rowan said.

"If you get sick, it's on you."

As they continued on, Spiritua wondered if there was any way to provide a proper burial for all the dead here. It wasn't right to leave them here, rotting away on a forgotten island. She doubted Kratos would approve of stopping to give every single person a proper burial, though. Besides, she wondered if there was even enough space on this island to build a cemetery. She knew nothing about Thoda Islander culture; maybe they preferred burial at sea? The logistics of helping them made it impossible, but she still felt terrible just walking around and ignoring them.

The path they followed around the lake was blocked by a pile of rocks. Light flowed through chinks in the cavern. The wall was still thick and mostly protect from the outside, but chunks had fallen out and hollowed it out in this one section, letting more light through.

"I don't think this is part of the architecture of the cavern," Pierce said, kicking a small rock. It skittered across the path and landed in the lake with a plop.

"Looks like a cave-in," Todd said. "I wonder if it's recent?"

"I think they'd have cleaned it up if they could," Rowan said. "It probably didn't happen until after… whatever happened. The gas leak or whatever."

"Mass deaths _and_ cave-ins?" Pierce said. "Gee, this island keeps getting better and better."

The path was blocked, but there was an archway to their right that led to another corridor leading away from the lake. As they moved away from the lake and the shafts of sunlight filtering through, the corridor got progressively darker. Dead torches lined the walls, but they hardly had time to stop and light them. Kratos and Spirit took the lead, since they had the best eyesight and were able to see marginally well. The worst part was that in the darkness, they couldn't see the bodies that still lined the floors. Spirit shuddered every time her foot accidently brushed against something.

Through the darkness, Spirit could tell that the temple would have been glorious to see if they had come only two months ago. Pillars lined the wide hallway, and statues decorated alcoves along the way. In time the temple would crumble and turn to ruin, but for now it still maintained its splendor.

She saw light ahead, coming out of an open doorway at the end of the corridor. She quickened her pace, eager to get out of this dark corridor filled with corpses. When they reached the light, they discovered a library. A huge glass window set high on the wall filled the room with light. The walls were lined with shelves which were filled with scrolls of parchment, while aisles in the middle contained leather-bound books. Dead librarians and readers slumped over tables and desks.

"Wow," Shea said. "Look at all the books!"

"It's a shame no one will read them anymore," Pierce said. "Someone ought to transfer them to a library in Cleopolica, or even the one in Fidalia." He picked a book up off the nearest desk and skimmed through it. He frowned. "Actually, maybe there's no point. I have no idea what this says."

"I thought you could read?" Rowan asked. He leaned over to look at the pages on the book.

"I can," Pierce said. "This isn't written in Sylvaranti."

Rowan shrugged. "All gibberish to me."

Pierce set the book down and Spiritua flipped through it. The letters were blocky and disconnected, and lined up down the right side of the page instead of the left. She had only learned to read a couple years ago, and didn't like the returning feeling of staring at pages and pages of knowledge with no idea what was being said.

"But if all the Thoda Islanders are dead," Rebecca said, "does anyone still speak the language?"

"Someone has to," Todd said. "There's got to be someone out there who can translate."

Shea stared at the library full of unreadable books with an expression others might use when looking at a cemetery. "If all these books are lost forever… think of what they might contain!"

"Some of these must be in Tethe'allan," Rebecca said, pointedly using her own word for the language. She traced her finger along a shelf of books near the entrance. "There are a tonne of books here and this island is really small. Some of these at least have to have been brought here from the mainland." Her finger stopped on one. "A-ha! I knew it." She pulled it from the shelf and proudly held it up for the others to read the gold-leafed title across the green leather. It was titled _The Missing Plants of Tethe'alla_. Spiritua had loved books and words ever since she'd learned to read, but this one sounded dull even to her.

"The seal isn't in the library," Kratos said impatiently, standing in the entrance.

Spiritua sighed and left. She admitted to herself that perhaps she was purposefully dawdling, because every second they spent before the seal was a second more of feeling the cool, moist air on her face.

Shea was the last to leave the library, giving it a last forlorn look before following the others down the hallway. The corridor turned, and they ventured down yet another hall lined in pillars and corpses At the end of this corridor, they reached a small cave with a flat stone floor and a domed stone roof. The walls and roof of this cave were covered in tiles to form a mosaic that wrapped around the entire room. There was an arched doorway to a tunnel across from them, and above the doorway in mosaics was the body of a massive sea creature. Curving around the walls were its many tentacles. Standing in the middle of it made Spirit feel trapped, like the tentacles were going to springs to life and reach out of the walls to grab her.

"The seal is through there, I believe," Kratos said, pointing to the archway. The tunnel turned out to be a spiral staircase, carved from stone and circling down into the rock.

Rowan looked up at the tiled beast about him. "I am getting a very bad feeling that I know what the monster is going to be."

"Maybe it's actually really tiny," Rebecca said. "Or maybe its tentacles just want to give you a hug."

"Yeah," Rowan said. "And maybe it only eats seaweed and vomits rainbows."

"Rebecca," Kratos said, "I would like you to wait out here."

"What?!" She whirled on him. "I can fight!"

"But you don't need to," he said. "Spiritua has to face this seal as part of her journey, but there is no need to endanger the life of the other Chosen. We're not discussing this."

Rebecca slumped her shoulders. "Fine…"

"I think I'm going to sit this one out too, guys," Shea said. She looked a bit guilty, but explained, "I'm not much of a fighter, and if it is going to be this tentacle-y sea monster down there, there's probably going to be a lot of water and I can't swim. I'd probably just get in the way."

"That's understandable," Pierce said. "I assume you're going to wait in the library?"

Shea smiled a bit. "Am I that predictable?"

"I guess I'll wait with you," Rebecca said sulkily.

"Good luck, you guys," Shea said.

Spirit smiled at her, and then started down the steps. The rest of the group came after her in single file. The stairway was narrow and sometimes she heard bangs and thumps as Pierce clanged against the wall with his bronze breastplate. She thought she heard him groan as he hit his head, too, and she took a moment to appreciate being short. Water dripped down the walls and distant drips echoed. They were going quite deep into the ground, and she imaged thousands of tonnes of ocean water just beyond the cave walls, pressing to get in.

Finally she came out on a narrow, stone pathway that led to a larger platform lined with pillars. The stairs exited in the wall of a huge cavern, which was filled with glass water. The path was only inches above the water, and the platform it led to was like an island in a lake. Glowing orbs of light were set into the walls, casting eerie, blue-green light across the still lake. Their footsteps echoed in the deafening silence as they crossed the path and reached the platform. Spiritua looked around. Every now and then, a drop of water fell from the ceiling with an impossibly loud plop, and sent ripples flowing across the smooth lake.

They stood in a huddled group in the middle of the platform, looking around for any sign of a sea monster.

"At the risk of sounding terribly cliché," Pierce said, "It's too quiet."

"Approach the altar, Chosen," Kratos said. "It should trigger the seal guardian."

Spiritua nodded, and took a few steps forward. They would be fine. They had fought the sphinx with only her, Rowan, and Kratos, and they'd fought the flying snake with just her, Kratos, and Pierce. Now they had herself, Rowan, Kratos, Pierce, and Todd to face whatever monster was coming their way. They would be fine. It didn't stop her from trembling a bit as she took the final steps up to the altar.

The ground rumbled. Light shot out of the altar. She prepared for a monster to come out of the altar, but nothing came. She thought that maybe it was broken, and turned around to ask Kratos.

And then eleven tentacles the size of tree trunks shot out of the water all around the platform. Each was covered in suckers, and they surged towards the group. Spiritua had her bow out and an arrow notched by the time the tentacles clashed with Pierce's sword.

"Piercing Line," Spiritua said softly, and her arrow whizzed forward and sunk into the rubbery flesh of the tentacle. It flinched and pulled back right before smacking into Rowan's face.

"Ok, there's eleven of them," Pierce said. They stood in a protective circle with their weapons barred. Spirit, still standing on the steps of the altar, nocked another arrow. "We'll each take two. Kratos, you take three."

Spirit pulled out a handful of arrows and took aim at a tentacle reaching toward her. She concentrated on building up her mana, narrowed her eyes, took aim, and whispered, "Storm Edge." The arrows took off in a concentrated stream, peppering the side of the tentacle. The tentacle looked like a pin cushion, and while it had stopped reaching for her, it didn't seem too damaged.

While that one was incapacitated, she took a moment to check on the others. Pierce and Kratos swung their swords in a flurry, hacking at anything that came close. The tentacles sprang back when struck, curling in like an anemone in a tide pool. Rowan seemed to be taking care of himself. The tentacles weren't able to get close to him, at least. With a bladed ring in each hand he spun like a whirlwind, leaving oozing puncture wounds in his wake. Spirit was more concerned with Todd, who was equipped only with a large knife. The tentacles were closing in fast around him, and he was having trouble keeping them at bay.

Spirit carefully aimed, drew the string back, and let the arrow lose in a Piercing Line. The arrow whizzed forward with a stream of blue light, and pierced straight into one of face-sized suckers.

Every tentacle shuddered and the water bubbled as a heart-stopping bellow echoed around the cavern. The tentacles thrashed around and smashed into the walls, making the room shake and bits of rock rained from the ceiling. Spiritua smiled. At least she'd found a weakness.

Then the tentacles returned to attacking with renewed vigour. They heard more grumbles and roars from something below the water, and all of Spiritua's arrows lay on the ground, expelled by the beast. They hadn't snapped off, she noticed, rushing over to pick them up. They'd actually been pushed out, completely intact. Looking over at Pierce, she saw that the tentacle he was grappling with looked as good as new, even though she was sure she'd seen him slash it open at least twice. Pierce, following Spirit's example, stabbed a tentacle right in the sucker. The beast wailed again, and then smacked him with another tentacle, knocking him to the ground.

She saw a shadow on the ground, and rolled to the side just in time as a massive tentacle smashed down on the steps of the altar. She looked up to see one sneak up on Rowan from behind and snatch him around the waist. He shouted in alarm as it yanked him toward the water.

Kratos spun around and shouted, "Fireball!" The blast of fire hit the tentacle right below Rowan's feet, causing it to drop him on the hard platform. The tentacle twitched and retreated underwater as another roar shook the cavern.

"This isn't doing any good!" Todd shouted, dodging behind a pillar to avoid another snatching grab of the tentacle. "We keep stabbing it, but it's not taking effect."

"Hitting the sucker seemed to work," Rowan said, while Spirit stood next to him.

Todd shook his head. "It just made it mad. Look, do you see any burned tentacles?"

The looked around. There were still eleven tentacles flying around, grabbing at the others and knocking them over, not a single one was even singed, even though Spirit was sure she'd seen a Fireball hit one just a minute ago.

"They're regenerating," Todd said. "Our weapons are useless." He didn't have time to continue before another tentacle made a grab for him, and he slashed at it before running off.

Rowan swung his rings and sunk them into a tentacle near him. "He's right," he grunted, yanking it out. "I keep stabbing this damn thing, but every time it comes back the wounds are gone."

Spirit shot another arrow at a tentacle behind Rowan. She thought of the expelled arrows, and nodded. "Maybe it's like the sphinx. Maybe we can't beat it through strength."

"Great. If you can find the head to answer a riddle, let me know. Although, speaking of riddles, there's something that's been bugging me." He stabbed a tentacle again and grunted as he pulled his ring out. The tentacle retreated, giving him a momentary break. He took a few deep breaths, and said, "Have you _ever_ seen a creature with an odd number of legs?"

Spirit slowed down firing for a second as this considering dawned on her. There were eleven tentacles. Animal limbs always came in sets of two. So where was the twelfth tentacle?

The break didn't last long, and soon the tentacles were back with more force than before. She fired arrows as fast as she could, but they didn't seem to be doing much damage. It was like trying to keep a ball from rolling down a hill by kicking it back up every time he got near the bottom. She thought back to the murals on the wall in the huge lake room above, and wondered how that army of soldiers had managed to defeat this creature in the past. She also wondered where those soldiers had gone. She hadn't seen anyone who looked like a soldier among the corpses.

She reached for another arrow… and found empty space. She glanced over her shoulder in a panic and snatched at the air above her quiver. She was out of arrows. She saw them lying across the platform where they'd been pushed out of the tentacles, and made a run for them. The creature roared and thrashed.

A tentacle slammed into the ground behind her. She reached her arrows. A rubber arm wrapped around her waist and jerked her off her feet. The arrow she'd been grabbing flew from her fingers. She grabbed at the tentacle and tried to pull it lose, but it was far too strong for her. She kicked and struggled, and when Kratos saw he plight he turned his back on the tentacle he'd been fighting and raced across the platform toward her. Kratos reached for her, but he wasn't fast enough.

She took a deep breath as it dragged her under water. The water was pitch black below the surface, and cold enough to make her head ache. She activated her wings, hoping they would make her more buoyant and harder to keep under water. That didn't work, but they did illuminate the scene.

The platform they'd been standing on was held up by four massive columns below the surface. Directly underneath it was the body of the beast. Light glinted off massive black eyes the size of dinner plated. Its gaping mouth was ringed with teeth, and Spirit had a vivid mental picture of getting swallowed by this thing.

She kicked and struggled again. She couldn't die here. Not after everything she'd been through. She had to regenerate the world. She'd made a promise to the people at the ranch! Her chest was beginning to feel tight. She could last much longer without air than she'd ever been able to as a human, but even angels needed to breathe.

The tentacle dragged her closer to the body… and then past the mouth. It held her over another tentacle that lay on the ground rather than thrashing around up above. The beast roared again, and the tentacle on the ground twitched. She followed it with her eyes, and in the dim bluish light provided by her wings, she saw a thick metal spike driven into the rock, right through the tentacle. The rubbery flesh was inflamed and swollen around the wound, and tremors ran through it with every tiny movement.

The beast roared again, so close she could feel the ripples through the water. But she realized it wasn't the angry roar of a menacing beast, it was a cry for help. It was in agony.

The tentacle around her waist went slack, and she shot towards the surface, swimming as hard as she could. Her chest burned with the need for air now, and she gasped great big mouthfuls of it the moment she hit the surface.

Strong hands grabbed her and pulled her from the water. "Chosen? Are you alright?"

Behind Kratos, the others continued battling the tentacles. Spirit imagined the twelfth tentacle down below, injured and sore. She nodded, taking deep breaths.

Assured that she was safe, Kratos ran back into the fray. Spirit didn't immediately go back to her bow, though. She couldn't take her mind off the awful sight below. That metal spike hadn't been put there by accident. Someone had purposefully skewered the beast's tentacle, by why? Had it been the Thoda Islanders, trying to reign in a terrifying beast out of legend? She couldn't imagine the priests and commoners whose bodies they'd seen coming down here and skewering this. Maybe the soldiers they'd seen in the mosaics, but that spike didn't have any barnacles or algae on it, so it couldn't have been there very long and the Thoda Islanders didn't seem to have soldiers any more. Just priests and librarians…

The library. There was something there. Something she was missing. She looked around the platform. Why would they build a beautiful platform in a cavern inhabited by a fearsome beast? Why would they spend all the time to make a mosaic of it over the entrance? If it was a warning, why would the stairs be unblocked and maintained?

_The letters were blocky and disconnected, and lined up down the right side of the page instead of the left_.

The Thoda Islanders read things right to left. The truth hit her with more force than a tentacle could. They'd interpreted the mural in reverse. It didn't show soldiers coming to the rescue to fight a fearsome beast. Thoda Island didn't have soldiers. It showed a peaceful island under attack by a foreign army, and a mighty sea creature rising from the depths to wipe out the invaders, with a festival to celebrate their victory at the end. They weren't afraid of the beast, they worshipped it, and now it was hurt, in pain, lashing out and crying for help. It wanted to drag someone down to pull that spike out and give it relief.

She looked to the others, took a deep breath, and ran for the water. She heard someone shout her name, but didn't care. With her wings out for light, she swam down under the platform and toward the spike. She reached it, and gave it a firm tug. The beast roared, but she didn't have any leverage so the spike barely moved. She swim deeper, planted her feet on the ground, and tugged again. She gritted her teeth and pulled on the spike. Her lungs begged for air and her head spun from lack of oxygen, but she wouldn't give up. She pulled as hard as she could, until finally she felt the spike move. She wrenched it out of the ground and out of the beast's tentacle, and then let it slowly fall to the ground.

By now she was out of oxygen, and the surface seemed very far away. She felt dizzy and her head pounded and her chest felt like it was going to burst. She felt a tentacle gently wrap around her and she collapsed into its embrace.

* * *

Lloyd put down a now empty class, which clanked on the table. "That was delicious."

"We should get moving," Kratos said. "The ship will probably be departing soon. Lloyd, do you have any money to pay for your lunch?"

Lloyd looked down at his plate, with only a few crumbs left to show that a turkey sandwich had once existed, and said, "Er…"

Kratos sighed. "I'll pay for it."

"Thanks, Dad!"

Fifteen minutes later, they were walking aboard the ship again. Lloyd was just about to take the last stop into the hull, when a cold, wet ball of snow smacked him in the ear. He whipped his head around and glared daggers at Zelos, who was still on the street.

Zelos shrugged. "Hey, don't look at me, buddy."

Lloyd scanned the street, and caught a glimpse of pink hair behind a tree. He looked closer, and saw Sheena and Presea giggling to themselves. He knelt down and scooped up a handful of snow, and then continued into the ship. Instead of making his way to the deck, he hid next to the door, lying in wait. Sheena was going to have a big surprise in her face the second she stepped into the boat.


	31. The Truth

**Chapter Thirty-One: The Truth**

The weather was finally getting warm again. Lloyd stood on the deck of the ship, looking out at the morning sky. They had left the icy waters of Flanoir behind overnight, and he could see land in the distance. They would reach Palmacosta sometime this afternoon, he hoped.

"Good morning, Lloyd," Colette said. She was chipper as always, even though she had just woken up.

Lloyd smiled. "Hi, Colette. Did you sleep ok?"

"Uh-huh! What are you doing out here?"

Lloyd sighed and leaned forward a bit against the failing. "Just… thinking. I'm worried about Genis and the professor. And I haven't seen Palmacosta since they started to rebuild."

Colette stood next to him and looked down at the sea. "I think we should see it, though. It was destroyed because of us. Because of I didn't regenerate the world."

"Don't say that, Colette. We've talked about this. You have nothing to feel guilty about, because us not regenerating the world led to putting a stop to Cruxis and the Desians."

"I think… the world is better off because of what we did." She absently picked at a splinter on the railing. "We saved a lot of people, and ended a terrible system. But if we hadn't done that, the people who died in Palmacosta would still be here. We wanted to save the world without sacrifices, but I don't think we entirely did. I know in my heart that we did the right thing, but we can't ignore that people got sacrificed along the way. It isn't fair to them if we don't take responsibility for what happened."

Lloyd stared out at the horizon, lost in thought. Colette's words hit home, and even though he didn't like to think about it, he couldn't deny that a lot of innocent people had gotten killed in the course of their journey. He wanted to believe that they'd done the right thing, but even when doing the right thing, people still got hurt. It was depressing to think about. Even when you tried your hardest, you couldn't save everybody.

"Let's make it up to them, then," he said. "For everyone who died because of our journey. Let's make the new world the best it can possibly be."

Colette reached over and held his hand. "Yes. We'll make the world better for them."

They heard footsteps on the deck, and looked over to see Sheena walking toward them. "M-morning guys," she said through a yawn. "Kratos is up and there's breakfast downstairs."

Lloyd smiled. "Great. Thanks, Sheena." He took one last look at the land on the horizon, and then headed down for breakfast.

* * *

Spiritua coughed and gasped for breath. Rowan let out a sigh of relief. A minute after Spirit had jumped into the water, the tentacles had suddenly retreated, and thirty seconds later one lifted Spirit out of the water and laid her down on the platform. There had been a tense twenty seconds when she didn't breathe, but then she'd coughed and her eyes fluttered opened. She looked around, rubbing water from her eyes.

"What happened?" Rowan asked. "Where'd the monster go?"

"Wasn't a monster," she said. "It was hurt. I helped it."

Rowan didn't entirely understand what she was talking about, but Spirit didn't bother explaining before standing up and walking toward the altar. As she walked away, he turned to the others. "Do you guys understand what's going on?"

"Nope," Todd said.

Kratos said, "It would appear the monster was attacking us because it was hurt somehow, and by helping it, Spirit soothed it."

Pierce massaged his arm and said, "I'm having difficulty feeling pity for it."

Spirit stood before the altar, water dripping down the steps. A pillar of light stretched up to the cavern roof, and Yuan appeared.

"Good morning, Chosen," he said. "Or, wait, is it afternoon yet…? Whatever. Congratulations on making it this far. We're all very proud of you. Cruxis shall grant you additional angel strength."

A ball of light appeared and flowered toward Spirit. Her wings unfurled and she floated a foot in the air. Rowan crossed his arms and glared. This wasn't fair. Spirit didn't want to become an angel. Why did Martel need her to do this, anyway? If these Cruxis angels were really so powerful, why couldn't they regenerate the world without the help of a girl? The light dimmed and Spirit dropped back to her feet.

"There's just one more seal left before you come to the Tower. Good luck." Yuan rose into the air and faded away once again.

When Spirit re-joined the group, Rowan wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "You alright?"

She nodded.

"What exactly happened with the tentacles?"

"I told you; it was hurt. There was a spike through one of its tentacles and it needed help. I think Cruxis put it there."

Rowan frowned. "Why would Cruxis put a spike through a tentacle monster?"

"To create the seal guardian," Kratos said. "If what Spirit is saying is correct, this beast wouldn't have ordinarily attacked us. By injuring it like that, they ensured that it would lash out at anyone who entered the cave, as well as end the battle as soon as it was freed. Quite clever, really."

"If it's all the same to you," Todd said, looking at the water nervously, "I'd like to get out of here in case that thing changes its mind."

They made their way back up the stairs in silence. When they exited the stairway, Rowan looked up at the monster in mosaic around the chamber. It looked quite fearsome, and it was hard to imagine that it was actually benevolent. But, he supposed he couldn't judge a creature on appearance and misunderstood stories.

They met Shea and Rebecca in the library. They found the girl sitting at a table with solemn expressions, and Rowan immediately asked, "What happened?"

"Nothing _happened_, per se," Rebecca said. "But, well…"

Shea said, "We figured out how all these people died." Based on her expression, Rowan didn't think he was going to like the answer. "What happened down below? We felt the tunnels shake a couple times. There was another cave in at the lake. It's relevant to my theory about the deaths."

Pierce explained as quickly as he could. He was a bit hazy on the details of what had happened with Spirit underwater, but Spirit seemed kind of out of it and leaned on Rowan for support, so didn't offer any further explanation.

Shea nodded. "I figured it was something like that. Let's go; I'll explain on the way out. I think Spirit's getting sick."

"What's wrong with her?" Rebecca asked, standing up.

They left the library and walked down the hall. "After releasing every seal, Spirit gets sick for the evening," Rowan said. "Part of the angel transformation."

Rebecca gave her a pitying look. "That's awful."

"Yeah. Aren't you glad your world's not declining?" He felt a bit envious of Rebecca. It wasn't fair that she and Spirit were both Chosens but only Spirit had to go through all this angel stuff.

They reached the path around the lake. Sure enough, the beast's thrashing had caused another cave-in, and across from them a pile of boulder sat in the water. "Shea," Pierce said, "what did you discover about the cause of deaths?"

"The lake killed them."

Rowan took a step back from the edge and shot her a look. "Wait, what?" he remembered taking a small sip of it himself, and wondered if the ache in his chest was from getting smashed with a tentacle or oncoming death by poison. "It's poison?"

"Not exactly," Shea said. "And I think it's safe for now. I think what happened is that there was a lot of gas built up in the lake. It must have seeped in from some underground vent. It was fine as long as it just sat there, but then something happened to the monster down below, and made it start thrashing around. The thrashing caused a cave in, and the boulders splashed into the lake, displacing a lot of water. This sudden activity stirred the gas up and expelled it from the lake, suffocating everyone it hit. It hung around outside to kill the Thoda sailors, but eventually dispersed."

Rowan stared at the placid lake with horror. It looked so calm and serene; it was hard to imagine that it had killed everyone here. "So… this lake is filled with deadly gas?"

"Not right now, I think," Shea said. "It would take years to build up enough to cause a disaster like this. Otherwise, we'd be dead now because the beast's thrashing today would have caused another outgassing."

The monster had started thrashing around because Cruxis had driven a spike into it. Did they not know something like this would happen? Did they even bother to check on it again? Hundreds of people were dead, all in the name of regenerating the world. As they walked along the path and back up to the balcony, he thought about the Tower of Mana. Librarians had been killed by the monster there, too. Why did Cruxis keep letting innocent people get killed if they were supposed to be saving the world?

As they walked toward the exit, Shea slipped in next to Rowan and said, "That's not the only thing I found in the library, though."

"Oh?"

Her eyes had a mad gleam of excitement and she reached into her bag to pull out and thin, leather-bound book. "The research journal of Philippus Aureolus."

Rowan felt like he should know who that was, and Shea obviously expected him to. He feigned as much excitement as he could muster and said, "That's great, Shea."

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

"…No."

"The researcher of the Elixir of Life. I was looking for his journal in the library in the Carski ruins."

"Ohhhh, now I remember." He did, vaguely. "So… did you get the answer you needed?"

Her excitement waned. "Not exactly." She flipped through the pages, and said, "These are just his field notes. In his very last entry, he wrote that he is now certain that the key to making a panacea lies with a certain species of flower. But here he refers to it only as 'the pale pink flower I encountered in the south east last year.' I have no idea what flower he's talking about, or where he found it."

"Well, if he's got these field notes, he probably has them from his trip to the south east a year before. So if you can find that journal, then maybe you'd find what you're looking for." Rowan did not know much about research, or healing, or magical flowers. But Shea cared, and so he would care, too, if it would make her happy.

"That's right," Shea said. Her excitement dwindled a bit. "I just need to find _another_ book." She sighed. "The hunt begins again."

* * *

They set up camp on the hill overlooking the geyser. Not only because the grass was nicer to sleep on, but also because the dirt down below was covered in corpses. The revelation of what had transpired here disturbed Kratos. He knew Mithos was a bit extreme in his policies, but whenever he killed people it always served some higher purpose. Letting an entire island die like this was just reckless and irresponsible. Mithos was really desperate for Spirit to complete the regeneration, and he didn't seem to care who got hurt along the way.

Kratos was nowhere near as determined to complete this journey. When he started, he'd wanted nothing more than to get it over with as soon as possible, but now he found that he was dreading the end. Not because he enjoyed travelling all day, but because of what it would mean for Spiritua. Kratos was a soldier; he wasn't afraid of death. But there was a difference between killing an enemy in your way and killing an innocent girl for your own gains. He didn't like it, and he didn't think Martel would, either.

He didn't want to complete this journey. This isn't what Martel would have wanted. Sylvarant definitely needed its turn to flourish, but once the four seals were unlocked, Mithos could switch it over. The final seal was only necessary to empty the Chosen's body of her soul, to make room for Martel. Martel wouldn't want this, he didn't want this, and he was pretty sure Yuan wouldn't be keen on Martel being a young girl, either.

However, it shouldn't be his decision. Spirit was the one who had to go through with this journey, so Spirit should be the one to decide if she wanted to complete it. She couldn't make a true decision without being fully informed, but Kratos was hindered by the fact that he couldn't actually tell her everything. Mithos forgave him for a lot of crap, but telling the Chosen – who would probably tell the others as well – that Martel wasn't actually a goddess would be going too far. He could only hope that telling her she was going to die would dissuade her from completing the journey. He was going to have to tell her.

But not tonight. She was feverish and ill, so he'd talk to her about it when she was better. It would at least give him a couple days to gear up for this difficult conversation.

He stared into the fire, wishing life could be simpler. Almost everyone else was asleep, including Noishe, who was curled into a clump of grass. Rowan was the only exception. He sat across from Kratos, poking the fire with a stick.

"You should go to sleep," Kratos said.

"Not tired," he said, not looking up.

"You have a responsibility to sail the boat tomorrow. The next seal is across the sea; are you able to cross the sea?"

He nodded. "Yeah. It'll be fine. We should stop in that village on the coast and stock up on supplies. Make sure we have enough food and water."

Kratos couldn't exactly say that he liked Rowan. He was annoying and reckless, and didn't think things through at all. But, he couldn't deny that the boy was capable, occasionally intelligent, and brave. He helped out more often than he got in the way. Kratos would never say it out loud, of course, but he had to admit that he no longer actively wished Rowan had been left behind in Luin.

A log collapsed onto the fire, sending a spray of sparks into the air. Rowan pulled his stick back sheepishly, and then rubbed the tip on a rock, leaving black streaks behind. "Kratos?" he said. "Why did it have to be Spirit?"

"What do you mean?"

Rowan looked over at his sick sister. "Why is she the Chosen? Why did it have to be her? Why couldn't the Chosen have been an adult who knows what they're doing? I hate watching her suffer like this. I wish there was something I could do to take some of it myself."

"It was going to be you, you know," Kratos said.

"Me? What was going to be me?"

"The Chosen," Kratos said. "It's determined by blood. The Mana Lineage. When you were born, we planned for you to be the first Chosen. But then your parents had a second child, and she was even closer to what we needed than we had ever planned."

"Wait. Planned? What are you talking about? Cruxis didn't show up until you came to tell Spirit she's the Chosen."

"Do you know how your parents met?"

Rowan looked confused. "Yeah, a friend from my dad's work introduced them."

"Have you ever met this friend?"

He shook his head. "He moved to Cleopolica before I was born."

"He didn't," Kratos said. "He returned to Welgaia. Cruxis arranged your parents' marriage to ensure their offspring would further the Mana Lineage."

Rowan stared at him. His stick sat ignored in the fire. "You… set up my parents?"

Kratos nodded. "And your mother's parents. And your great-grandparents. All to insure the birth of someone with a mana signature that could be the Chosen. You. But then your parents went beyond the plan and had a second child, which we didn't care about at all because we already had you, but she was even closer to what we wanted than you were." Funny how their best chance of success came from outside the plan. "When you have a child, they will be the next Chosen." When Rowan looked up in fear, he added, "We probably won't need to regenerate the world again for another couple generations. You will not have to watch your son or daughter go through the same thing Spiritua is experiencing."

The tip of Rowan's stick burned off and fell into the fire. "Wouldn't it be better for Spirit's kids to be the next Chosen?"

Kratos hesitated. He settled on, "Angels cannot have children."

"Ok, then what if I don't want to have kids?"

"I'm afraid that is not your choice."

Rowan thrust his stuck into the fire and glared at Kratos. "Not my choice? You can't _make_ me have kids. Next you're going to say you're going to set me up with some girl that would further the lineage best, right? Just like you did my parents." He shook his head and ground his burning stick into the embers with anger. "You can't just breed people like cattle. That makes Cruxis no different than the Desians!"

It was just as well that Rowan didn't know what irony was, because he wouldn't have been able to appreciate this fine example of it. What Kratos said, though, was, "Think of it like royalty. Do you think the kings of Balacruf married for love? No, they married because it was expected of them, and because they needed to produce an heir for the good of the kingdom."

"I'm not a king. I'm just a fisherman."

"You _were_ just a fisherman," Kratos said. "But you're going to find that once Spiritua regenerates the world, there will be rush of conversions to Martelism. When Martelism becomes mainstream, the Chosen will be worshipped as if they were royalty. I'm sorry to have to break the news to you, but even after this journey is over you won't be able to go back to your old life. You're going to be a celebrity."

Rowan stared into the fire, deep in thought. He had obviously never even thought about what this journey would mean for him. After almost a minute of silence, he said, "And at the end of this, after generations of manipulation and letting all these people die, is the world really going to come to life again? Is it all worth it?"

"Yes," Kratos said. "At least, to your first question. I can say for certain that the world will be regenerated when this is all over. As for whether it's worth it, that's up to you."

* * *

The next morning, Rowan, Todd, Rebecca, and Pierce prepared the boat for their trip. It had been decided that Shea would keep her feet on solid ground for as long as possible**.** Spiritua's fever had broken during the night, but Rowan insisted that she sit and rest in case she felt ill again. Kratos really ought to talk to her now. He could easily get her alone and have a private conversation with her while the others were busy. But… maybe it could wait just a little longer.

He heard a chirp, and saw Noishe perched on a rock across from him. "Go away, Noishe."

Noishe chirped again, with much more demand. Kratos got the feeling the bird was trying to tell him to go talk to Spirit.

"It can wait," he said.

The next chirp was even louder, and Noishe puffed himself up and flared his feathers. Kratos was not going to be able to get off this island without talking to Spiritua, at least not without getting pecked at all the way to Triet. Kratos sighed, realizing he'd lost an argument with a canary. There had been lower points in his life, but not many.

Noishe tweeted in an aggravatingly annoying manner as Kratos forced himself to walk over to Spirit. "Chosen," he said, "can I have a word?"

She looked up at him from the rock she sat on, a bit surprised, but nodded.

Kratos sat on a rock next to hers and said, "How do you feel?"

"Ok," she said. "Disconnected."

Kratos nodded. Losing the ability to sense the world around you would make anyone feel cut-off. "I want to talk to you about the final seal. Not the Fire Seal, but the one after that. The conclusion of your journey."

Spirit stared at the others, scurrying about to ready the boat. Her face was passive as she said, "It's bad, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kratos said.

She closed her eyes. "Say it. I'm going through with this no matter what. Don't be afraid of dissuading me."

_That's actually the opposite of what I want_, he thought. He took a deep breath, and as slowly and calmly as he could, he said, "At the final seal, you will give up your heart and your memories. Your body will be left vacant, technically still alive, but you yourself… you will die." It would have been better to get this over with the first week of the journey. Then he wouldn't have grown attached to her and wouldn't have known her long enough to read the solemn resignation on her face. He had been hoping for horror or fear, but she didn't have to say anything to tell Kratos that she was going through with this journey anyway.

"Nobody is forcing you to go through with this," he tried. He considered telling her the _whole_ truth, but Mithos would never forgive him for that. "If you have any hesitation or doubt, it's alright to back down."

She shook her head. Her eyes were open now, and she said, "I've made my decision. I promised. I can't turn my back on them. If it means I have to die, then… I have to accept that." She wrapped her arms around herself. "I won't lie and say I'm not scared, but… if this is the only way to regenerate the world…" She stared down at the boat. The others were happily going about their day, with no idea that this journey would inevitably end in despair. Her voice sounded small and younger than Kratos had ever heard when she said, "Is… is it going to hurt?"

"I don't know," Kratos said. "I don't believe so."

Spiritua sat still, staring vacantly into the distance. Kratos wondered what he should do. Was he supposed to hug her? Should he pat her on the head and say 'there, there'? He didn't think that would help. What would Martel do? She was so much better at this.

The moment passed, and he still hadn't done anything. Spirit said, "Don't tell the others. I'll deal with it."

"Alright." Down at the dock, Rowan waved his hands and shouted at them to get moving. The ship was ready to go and it was time to make their way to the Fire Seal.

* * *

Spiritua stood at the prow of the ship, sensing the wind whipping across her face but not feeling it. She missed the cool, salty breeze of the ocean. It wasn't the same to stand here without feeling the chill or the wind or the warm wood beneath her fingers. She didn't know how many more chances she'd have to experience the world like this, though, so she'd take what she could.

Spirit did not want to die. She wanted to live so badly that her chest ached. She wanted to regenerate the world and watch it be reborn, to witness Sylvarant come to life again. Even if she'd only be able to watch from afar as an angel, she just wanted to _see_ it. But she couldn't. She'd never get to see the world made possible through her sacrifice. She was going to die and there was nothing she could do about it. Sure, Kratos had said she had a choice, but did she really? Her life wasn't more important than the entire rest of the world. She couldn't live with herself if she abandoned the people of Sylvarant to wither away and die. Her hands shook. She realized she was trembling. It wasn't from the cold, obviously. It was the fact that the Fire Seal was racing toward them closer and closer, and she wished that the last leg of their journey could slow down and last forever.

"Good morning, Spirit," Rebecca said, striding up behind her. "Do you feel better this morning?"

She nodded. Well, she didn't feel physically ill anymore, but Kratos' revelation hadn't done much for her mood.

Rebecca leaned on the wooden railing. "It's not fair of them to put you through this," she said. "I mean, I guess I'm biased because I'm a Chosen too, and I know I wouldn't want anything like this happening to me, but it's just not fair, you know?"

She nodded again. To be honest, she'd never even thought about the fairness of it all. It was just the way the world worked. Rebecca was right, though. It _wasn't_ fair that she had to die. But a lot of things in her life were unfair, so she'd never thought of this as an exceptional case.

"It just… pisses me off. The way Cruxis is just using us." Rebecca scowled. "Look, I love Martel and all, but is it possible to be pro-Martel but anti-Church? Because I feel like Cruxis itself doesn't follow Martel's teachings. Martel says that all lives are precious, but Cruxis is using us like we're puppets. Doesn't it piss you off?"

Spirit shrugged.

"How can't it? Look what they're doing to you. They took me away from my home. I haven't seen my family in years. They're forcing me to be someone I'm not, dressing me up like a pretty doll they can show off to further their own ends. I'm pissed off, and they're not even physically changing me like they are you!" She sighed. "I know it seems petty to be complaining about my lot in life when you're the one who has to transform into an angel, but I just… I want to go home. Not just to Tethe'alla, to my village. I just want to be me again. I'm tired of all this Chosen stuff, and it feels really hypocritical that Martel tells us to be true to ourselves, and then the angels show up and say 'no, be true to the self we want you to be.'"

Spirit thought that she and Rebecca should work together, because Rebecca did enough talking for two Chosens. She said, "I don't think Kratos is like that."

"Really? I mean, he and Yuan seem nice and all, but they are the ones who dragged us into this mess in the first place."

"Kratos gave me a choice," Spirit said. "He told me that if I wanted to abandon the quest and go home, I could."

"Wow," Rebecca said. "I wish Yuan had said that. I'd go home in a heartbeat." She frowned, and added, "Although, my parents would probably force me to go back. They were quite keen on the idea of being the parents of the Chosen."

Spirit heard another set of footsteps, and then Todd's voice said, "Hey, girls. What were you saying about Kratos?"

"Nothing," Rebecca said. "Chosen stuff."

"Ah, ok." Todd glanced back to the stern of the ship, where Kratos was sitting with Noishe. Spirit sometimes thought it was kind of cute how he had conversations with his pet bird, although usually the idea of putting 'cute' and 'Kratos' together in a sentence boggled her mind.

"Kratos kind of scares me," Todd said. "I don't think he likes me."

Rebecca laughed. "I don't think Kratos is the kind of guy who likes a lot of people he's just met."

Spirit nodded. "He hated Rowan, too. I think he's ok with him now."

"But don't worry," Rebecca said. "I don't think Kratos is going, like, smother you in your sleep with a pillow or anything."

Todd looked alarmed. "That is a rather specific reassurance."

"Shhh," Rebecca said. "Don't let Kratos know you're on to him!"

Spirit rolled her eyes. She understood that Kratos could be scary sometimes, but as far as she knew, Kratos appeared to be a kind man who put a lot of effort into pretending he wasn't.

"Well," Todd said, "I just came to say that Pierce and I are kind of bored and found a deck of cards down below, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us. I think Shea's busy curled up in a bunk, hating the world. Or, at least, the wet parts of it."

"Sure!" Rebecca said. "Just you wait, by tonight I will have won _all_ of your Gald. Good luck, suckers!"

Spirit had never been much for card games before, but she liked the idea of playing a game to get her mind off the journey. She smiled and nodded, and then followed Rebecca and Todd below decks.

* * *

A few days later, they were at sea. Rowan no longer had the land to his right to keep them on track, and relied on a compass to make sure they were still heading toward Triet. They'd stopped in the same village along the coast to pick up supplies. There wasn't much to be had, but it was better than nothing. The people seemed a lot more optimistic than they had when they had departed.

"We've decided to stay here," Martha had said when Rowan asked about what their plans were. "It would be stupid to scatter back to our separate villages. We're stronger together."

"We're not staying here, though," someone else had chimed in while helping to load a barrel of water onto _Dorothy_. "We're going to head west to get farther away from the ranch. There's a small island just off the coast, and we thought that if we built our town there, with a single bridge into town, it would be really easy to defend against the Desians."

"That's a good idea," Rowan said. "But hopefully you won't have to worry about Desians for too much longer. We just have one seal left."

"Forgive us for being cautious," Martha said. "I wish you luck."

Then they'd moved on, leaving the southern region behind. Everyone else was below decks. Rowan sat by himself, enjoying the solitude. He usually found being out on the water relaxing and peaceful, but today he was bogged down with thoughts about his conversation with Kratos the other night.

The idea that Cruxis had been manipulating his life since before he was born made him feel squirmy inside. He knew that his parents had truly loved each other, but there was a certain degree of fakery to his memories now. He almost felt like he wasn't even real. He was nothing but the product of generations of manipulation, but then ultimately discarded when it turned out Spirit was better.

That's what weighed on his heart the most: the fact that he _could_ have been the Chosen. The worst part of this journey was watching Spirit suffer but knowing there was nothing he could to do help her. But, as it turned out, he could have helped. Way back in the old church near Luin, if had he just stepped forward… pushed her aside at the last second… he could have taken the Cruxis Crystal himself. Kratos would have been furious, but what could they do? Then he would be the Chosen, and he could have left Spirit behind safely in Luin. If only he had known. If only he could retroactively take this burden of off Spirit. It wasn't fair that he couldn't – he had the Mana Signature for it, whatever that meant.

It was too late to do anything about it, though. Spirit was the Chosen and that was that. The best he could do was look after her to the best of his ability, like he always had.

The hatch creaked as someone climbed out of the hull. Todd appeared, stretching his arms in the cool night air before falling into the seat next to Rowan. "Evening."

"What are you doing out here?"

Todd shrugged. "Just getting some fresh air. I'm not really tired and I get kind of claustrophobic being below decks for a while. I'm not a huge fan of boats."

"Really?" Rowan looked over in surprise. "You seem to know what you're doing."

"Well, yeah, it's hard to grow up in a fishing town and not know a thing or two about sailing. I've helped Martha out enough times. But my family were farmers, not sailors."

Rowan thought for a moment, and then said, "You said earlier that humans killed your parents. I'm… I'm sorry." He thought about Shea and the things she'd said about being driven out of town for revealing her race. "I guess we overreact to half-elves and do a lot of bad things."

"You don't have to apologize," Todd said. "I said I wasn't a representative of my species, and neither are you."

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to your parents?"

Todd stared ahead, his arms crossed and his face in a frown. "It was a long time ago. Some guy in town got caught with stolen goods, but his excuse was that they'd been planted on him by a half-elf. My family were the only half-elves in town, so…" He sighed. "They killed my parents and burned down our farm. I just happened to be away from home at the time. I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I hung around Thoda doing odd-jobs. You said half-elves killed your father. Was that Desians?"

Rowan nodded. It occurred to him that violence against humans came from a militarized organization of half-elves whose sole mission was to oppress and farm humans. But, violence against half-elves came from ordinary people, who were just going about their lives and attacked half-elves on the side. He wasn't sure which was worse. "We got caught by Desians when I was about ten. He helped me escape, but he couldn't get away himself and they killed them."

A stab of guilt struck his chest when he realized he still hadn't told Spirit the truth. She deserved to know what really happened to their father, but he could never bring himself to say the words. He'd never thought he'd have to explain as long as the Cleopolica ranch was standing, but now that it was dismantled, she had to be wondering why their dad hadn't been among the rescued prisoners.

"I think we'll be better off when the Desians are gone," Todd said. "Maybe, once Desians are gone and people have no reason to fear half-elves, they'll stop being treated so badly."

"Yeah," Rowan said. "Most people I know only hate half-elves because of the Desians, so I can't see why we'd still fight if they were gone." Just another reason why regenerating the world was vitally important. And another reason why Spirit had to go through all this shit. He didn't like thinking about this, because it almost made him want to support Spirit's angel transformation.

* * *

Sailors ran around the deck of the ship in a hurry, throwing ropes and tying in sails. The docks had been the first thing to be rebuilt after Palmacosta's destruction, since it was necessary for shipping in supplies and assistance. A lot of buildings had been rebuilt, but they looked hastily erected. There was still a lot of work to be done before the city could say it was on its feet again.

None of that matter to Lloyd right now. The important thing was that they were here. Professor Sage and Genis were somewhere in this city, and he was going to find them. He stood with the others on the deck, impatiently waiting for the gangway to be lowered so they could go ashore. They were finally here, and he could hardly wait to find his friends.

* * *

A/N: What happened with the lake on Thoda Island was based on a real life incident that happened at Lake Nyos in Cameroon in the 80s; you can google it if you're curious. There was admittedly a bit of artistic license with how it worked, but the gas that was released was CO2. The more you know!


	32. The Desert

**Chapter Thirty-Two: The Desert**

They stood on the shore, the vast expanse of desert stretching out before them. On Shea's advice, he'd circled the boat around the peninsula and anchored it on a sandy beach around an inlet. According to Shea, the coast further west was too rocky and steep to even hope to dock a ship, so they were stuck disembarking here and crossing the desert on foot.

Rowan adjusted the wide-brimmed fishing cap on his head, feeling silly. It seemed completely backwards to walk into a desert with a hat intended for fishing, but Shea had insisted. After the boat had been dragged up onto the beach, she'd tossed down a collection of hats and scarves she'd found below decks.

"What do we need hats for?" Rowan had asked. "It'**s **hot, not cold."

"Keeps the sun off your head," Shea had replied, winding a wide piece of fabric around her head, expertly fashioning it into a head scarf. "As team medic, I insist that everyone wears head protection of some kind."

It had been first-come first-serve at the pile of hats, so Rowan counted himself lucky that his hat at least looked like something people voluntarily wore. Pierce had a skipper's hat, which gave him the odd appearance of being the most heavily armoured sailor in the world, at least until he decided that wearing a hunk of metal on his chest was not the best idea when traversing a desert, and reluctantly left his armour at the boat. Kratos and Rebecca had had a heated argument over a flower bonnet, which had ultimately ended in Kratos snatching the other option, a fisherman's hat similar to Rowan's but with a wider and floppier brim, and holding it high above her head and she reluctantly put the flowery mess on her head in defeat. Todd watched the whole thing with bemusement, not seeming to care that his own hat resembled a folded paper boat, with a handkerchief underneath, hanging down his neck to make up for its lack of brim.

Spirit had hung back and let the others choose first, so she let Shea help her wrap a scarf around her head in lieu of a hat. No one was sure if she was actually in danger of heat stroke, considering she couldn't feel hot or cold anymore, but Shea had decided it was better to play it safe. Even if Spirit didn't feel hot, that didn't mean she wasn't being affected by it.

"Good," Shea said, surveying the group. "Does everyone have enough water?"

Rowan's backpack was half-full with canteens, he felt. He was almost looking forward to getting thirsty just to give him an excuse to lighten it. "Yes," he said in annoyance.

"Wrong," Shea said. "If you think you have enough water for what you need, then you don't have enough for if you wander off course or drink a bit more than you expected, which you probably will. However, that's all the water we have on the boat, so it will have to do."

"Don't worry," Pierce said. "We'll ration it."

"No," Shea said. "Don't ration it. If you're thirsty, drink. Bodies have been found in the desert with water still in their canteens because they thought they should ration it. Having water later won't help you if you die now." She looked across the group like a general surveying her troops. "Crossing the desert is not like crossing a prairie. Nobody try to act tough; if you feel light-headed or weak, let me know. Is everyone ready?"

Nobody spoke until, after a long pause, Rebecca said, "Is that a trick question?"

"Might as well be," Shea said. "Alright everyone; let's head out."

* * *

Palmacosta was a large city. It had been confusing to navigate the first time they were here, and now that it had been destroyed, all the streets were in a new order. It took forever to wander the twisting roads to find the police station. After Lloyd led them into a dead-end, Regal took over as the leader.

Lloyd was a bit annoyed that Regal was able to lead them to the main square with seeming ease. From there, it was a short walk down a side street to reach the police station.

"I could have found it too, you know," Lloyd said as they entered.

"Sure you could, Lloyd," Sheena said rolling her eyes.

The man behind the front desk stood up quickly when he saw them. "Oh! You're Lloyd the Hero and his friends!"

Zelos scowled. "What are we, sidekicks? Just 'cause he's the one who held the actual sword…"

Lloyd strode forward, and said, "Yeah, I am Lloyd Irving. We're here to release Raine Sage."

The desk clerk's face fell. "Ah. I see. I, uh, kind of figured it was something like that." He fiddled his hands together. "I'm afraid we can't just, uh, release prisoners because you ask."

"But I'm Lloyd the Hero," Lloyd said. "Professor Sage isn't a criminal. I know for a fact that she's innocent!"

"Yes," the clerk said, "but we have procedures here and we can't just take it on your word."

Regal stepped forward. "Can we perhaps pay bail to have her released?"

"Uh…" the clerk said. "I don't know. This is a complicated issue. Can you wait until the chief gets back? I'm sure he can work everything out for you."

"How long will that take?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh, he should be back in just ten minutes!"

Lloyd sighed. "I guess we have no choice." He looked back at his friends. "Sorry, guys, looks like we're going to have to wait a bit."

* * *

It was their third day in the desert. At first Rowan had kept count of how many sand dunes they'd climbed, but he gave up after fifteen. He had sand in his shoes and his shirt was soaked in sweat. He couldn't blame Shea for never returning to Triet after she'd left it as a child, because this desert was the closest thing to hell on Sylvarant.

"Are we almost there?" Rowan asked. They reached the top of a sand dune, but there was nothing but more sand on the other side.

"No," Shea said. "Still at least a couple days to go."

Rowan groaned and collapsed into the sand, letting himself slide down the slope rather than walk. At the base of the dune, he leaned back on the hot sand, wondering how it had only been a few days ago that he was enjoying the cool, salty breeze of the sea.

"Get up," Shea said when the others reached the bottom.

"No," he whined. "I'm tired. It's hot."

"It's hotter on the ground," Shea said. "Seriously, get up."

"Stupid Fire Seal," Rowan mumbled, slowly forcing himself to get up. "Why can't it be the Ice Seal?"

"Because then you'd be complaining about how cold it was," Shea said.

"I must agree with Rowan's sentiments," Pierce said, wiping sweat from his brow. "I don't know how much longer we can keep going. We're already over halfway through our water supply. We can restock when we reach Triet, but we're going to run out of water if it takes much longer. Are we at least halfway there?"

Shea hesitated, biting her lip. She said, "Not quite. I think it will take us at least four more days to reach Triet."

"We don't have the water to make it that far," Rebecca said. "I already feel like I'm not drinking enough, because ifI drank when I felt thirsty like you said I'd just keep a constant straw to my mouth at all times."

"We might have to turn back," Kratos said. "If we don't have the water to make it to Triet, plugging along won't do us any good. Dying of thirst won't regenerate the world."

"The oasis," Spirit suddenly said.

"Oh, yeah!" Rowan said. "Shea, you said there's an oasis in the desert, didn't you? Is it on our way to Triet?"

Shea frowned. "Well… it's… not exactly on our way. We'd have to angle a bit to the north. We definitely have enough water to reach it, though. But, the people there don't really like outsiders. It's… it's a half-elf village. That's where I was born."

"It might be our only option," Pierce said. "We can refill our water supplies there and continue on to Triet."

"Yeah, ok," Shea said, "but we might arrive and have them turn us away, and then we'll have gone out of our way and still have no water, and be worse off than when we started."

"That isn't fair," Rowan said. "If there's water at the oasis, they can't just take control of it and not let anyone else drink."

"Do you really think they won't let us get water?" Todd asked.

"Hm… I don't think they'll be happy about it. But, they may make an exception because of me."

"I think we should take the risk," Pierce said. "Even if we turned back to the boat now, we don't have any water there, either."

Shea sighed. "I guess you're right. If we angle a bit to the north and keep walking, we should reach the oasis sometime tomorrow morning, I think."

Rowan groaned, imagining another day and night of trekking through the desert. At least they'd reach an oasis tomorrow.

* * *

The chief of police didn't show up until half an hour later. Lloyd was bored out of his mind by the time he appeared, and he leapt to his feet the moment the man appeared.

"You're the chief of police, right?" Lloyd said. "We're here about Raine Sage."

"Ah." The police chief was an older man with grey hair and a steely mustache. "I was wondering if you would show up."

"How can you have arrested Raine?" Sheena said. "How could you possibly think that someone who helped us save the world could be a criminal?"

"After the riot, all witnesses we talked to claimed the fighting started because of a female half-elf, and your friend was the only half-elf at the scene. We reached the obvious conclusion."

"But that's ridiculous," Lloyd said. "Professor Sage would never start a riot!" He failed to mention that Raine had a penchant for violence against her students. Raine may be quick to whack him over the head, but she wouldn't go around starting riots.

"Can we at least talk to her?"

"Sure, I have no problem with that. She's in a cell down the hall." He pointed at a door.

"Come on, guys," Lloyd said, looking back at his friends. He strode past the chief and through the door. He could hardly contain his anticipation as he hurried down the row of cells, glancing in each one to see if Raine was there.

She spotted him first. "Lloyd? What are you doing here?"

His head whipped around, and he saw her standing by the bars of a cell. "Professor!"

The rest of the group hurried to stand around him. "Are you alright?" Regal asked.

She smiled. "I'm fine. It's not the first time I've been arrested for being a half-elf."

"We're going to get you out," Lloyd said. "No matter what. Breaking you out of here can't be that hard. I mean, after a few human ranches, what's one jail break?"

"I would advise against that, Lloyd," Kratos said. "While it is important to free Miss Sage, I believe we should try to pursue this through legal means. Breaking her out illegally will do little to help the public perception of half-elves."

Raine nodded. "If I run, I will be assumed guilty, and the work Genis and I have been doing to try and help the treatment of half-elves will be useless."

Presea said, "If we find the true culprit, they will release you."

"Do you have any idea who started riot?" Zelos asked.

Raine shook her head. "Sadly, no. Genis and I were on the outskirts of the protest. I saw fighting begin, and when it started to get bad I interceded to try and stop the violence, but then the Palmacosta police arrived and I was apprehended and accused of starting it."

Lloyd clenched his fists. "It's not fair. After everything we've done, people are still pinning all their problems on half-elves."

"Lloyd," Raine said, "Genis is in a hotel a few blocks away. I'm sure he will be happy to see a familiar face."

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah, ok. We'll go find him, and then we'll find the person who really started this mess, and then we'll get you out of here, just you wait!"

* * *

The desert cooled off at night, or at least that's what the others said. Spirit didn't notice a difference. They didn't have any wood for a fire, so the campsite between two towering dunes was rather barren. It would be nice to reach an actual village tomorrow, and interesting to see where Shea was born. Besides, she didn't really mind going a bit out of their way, because the longer they took to get to the Fire Seal, the longer she had to live.

She traced her finger in the sand, drawing swirls and patterns. The others were finishing their dinner, but Spirit didn't envy them. All they had to eat were dried meats and stale bread that they'd crossed the sea with and could survive in their packs in the desert. She was glad she didn't have need of any water, because she was strong and able to carry a lot, but didn't need to take any of it herself.

The evening wore on. The others had formed a circle out of habit, because they were so used to having a campfire. While the rest of the group chatted, Kratos and Spirit were content to sit back and watch. Kratos didn't seem to be paying them any attention at all and was more concerned with the little bird on his head, but Spirit enjoyed listening.

A long time ago, she had discovered that you could learn a lot about a person by being quiet. If you didn't speak up, people tended to forget that you were even there. You could observe people, taking in everything they were saying and learn everything about them without giving up anything of yourself. She noticed far more than anyone considered. For example, there was Shea. While sitting up awake all night, she had noticed Shea creeping over to Rowan and a flash of green light. She had wondered if she was a half-elf or a human who had learned to use magic somehow.

She noticed things during the day, too. She almost always walked at the back of the group, and observed how Kratos sometimes gave irritated looks to Noishe when Rowan was talking a lot. Earlier in their journey, Pierce used to walk relatively close to Shea and keep his eyes on her at all times, but over the course of their travels he'd gradually lightened up and now he didn't pay her much attention at all, unless she was talking. When the group sat down to eat, she noticed how Rowan almost always went out of his way to sit next to Shea, and how Todd always looked vaguely irritated at this. She wondered if Todd liked Shea, too, or if he just found Rowan's obvious crush annoying the way Kratos did.

Tonight, while sitting back in a cozy seat carved out of sand, she watched how Rebecca tended to wave her arms around when she spoke. Pierce had clearly been uncomfortable ever since he abandoned his armour back at the boat. His eyes glanced around and he often sat with his arms across his chest, like he felt vulnerable and exposed. Rebecca was trying to explain some musical group that played in Meltokio and why they weren't a waste of time. Rowan and Todd made snide comments every few sentences, while Shea tried to keep the peace by both telling Rebecca that probably there were just too many culture differences for Sylvaranti people to appreciate it, while also telling Rowan and Todd to shut up and stop teasing her. The most amusing part to Spirit was Pierce, who seemed to be trying to stay out of the whole thing but was constantly struggling with his warring desires of trying to be a mature adult who stays out of arguments about teenage musical groups, against the need to provide snark of his own.

If she spoke, Spirit would get dragged into this mess, and she was sure it wouldn't be half as entertaining to actually be part of it. She was content to observe and treat it like a show, like she did most conversations.

The evening wore on, and gradually the others went to sleep. Rowan was the last one up. He usually was, because he was the only one on this journey who considered the time they usually got up and started their day in the morning to be sleeping in. Fish were most active at dawn, which meant fishermen had to be up and out of the house a couple hours prior to that.

When all the others were asleep, Rowan looked over at Spirit and said, "You agree with me, right? Rebecca's band thing sounds ridiculous."

Spirit nodded. She had to admit, though, that the idea of living in a world where people had enough money and free time to travel around playing music for a living sounded appealing. Most people in Sylvarant were too concerned with finding food to worry about stuff like that.

Rowan got up and crossed the circle to sit down on the dune slope next to Spirit. He leaned back into the sand and stared up at the sky. "Man… do you have any idea how far from home we are?"

"Pretty far."

"The stars are all different this far south. I can barely figure out which way north is."

"We don't need to," Spirit said. "We have a compass."

He gave her an irritated look. "That's not my point."

Spirit smiled. "We'll be heading back home soon. The Tower of Salvation is in the north.

"Are we going to have to circle all the way around back to where we started?"

Spirit shook her head. "I think Kratos said we'd take the boat and cross the central sea and approach the Tower from the south."

"Good to have a ship. Really speeds up our journey."

"I think Shea would argue otherwise." She couldn't muster any enthusiasm for the end of the journey. Rowan was happy about going home, but she just wanted to live.

Rowan easily read the expression on her face. "What's wrong? Aren't you excited to be done?"

She shrugged, her eyes on the sand.

Rowan sat up a bit. "It's the becoming an angel thing, isn't it? Look, I told you, if you don't want to do it, then we won't. Screw Kratos; I'll take you back to Luin right now if you want."

Spirit shook her head. "This isn't Kratos. He told me that he wouldn't make me do it if I didn't want to. He offered to let me go home."

"And you turned him down?!"

She finally raised her head and said, "I have to. People keep telling me I have a choice, and maybe I do, but to me it doesn't seem like the other options are even worth thinking about. People will die if I don't regenerate the world. People are dying _right now_ because I haven't done it yet. And – and what about Dad?"

Rowan froze up.

Spirit pushed on. "We didn't find Dad at the Cleopolica ranch, so what if he got transferred to another ranch? What if he's in the Iselia ranch, and he's suffering because I haven't regenerated the world yet?" If she saved Dad, then even if she died, Dad would be there for Rowan and Mom. Maybe that would make up for how much they'd miss her.

"Spirit…" Rowan wore a pained expression. "It's… about Dad…"

"If I save him, then isn't it all worth it?"

Rowan's face was both guilty and sad at the same time. Spirit stopped rationalizing as her heart skipped a beat. Something was wrong. "Rowan… what is it?" Dread bubbled up in her chest. There was something Rowan wanted to tell her, but she could tell from his expression that it was killing him to find the words for it.

"Spirit… Dad is…Dad's dead." He couldn't look her in the eyes, and his face fell to the ground.

Spirit's heart raced. This wasn't what she wanted to hear at all. It simply couldn't be true. She desperately backpedaled to find reasons for why it wasn't. "Don't be so pessimistic. We can't know for certain. There's always the chance-"

"He's dead, Spirit," Rowan said with more firmness. "And he has been for a long time."

She shook her head, her lips parted but finding difficulty speaking. "He – no. We have to hold on to our hope." The chance that Dad had died in the ranch had certainly occurred to her Lots of people died and the chances of surviving in a ranch for almost ten years was pretty slim. But there was the chance, right? As long as they didn't know for a _fact_ that dad was dead, she refused to give up on the hope that she'd see him again. "I know it's not incredibly likely, but there's still the possibility."

Rowan shook his head. "Spirit, I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry. But Dad… Dad never made it to the ranch. He was killed by Desians after helping me escape."

"Stop it," Spirit said. "Don't say that!" Rowan was lying. She couldn't believe he would lie to her about something like this, but it was easier to believe that he was lying now than that he had been lying for ten years.

Rowan's whole body slumped and his face was a wreck. It was like a massive weight had suddenly been lifted off of him, leaving him crushed and miserable in its wake. "He died. I made it home but I couldn't bring myself to tell you or Mom. So I told you guys that he was taken to the ranch, because I didn't think we would ever liberate the prisoners from the ranch and find that he wasn't there." He raised his head and finally met her eyes. She had never seen him more miserable. "I'm so sorry, Spirit. You were so little and I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. I didn't want you to give up hope. I think Mom figured it out. I could tell by the look on her face when she talked about him, but she never mentioned it."

Her thoughts blurred with the speed at which they raced through her mind. She felt more shock and horror now than she had when Kratos told her about her own impending death. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't. She could accept that their father died many years ago, but the idea that Rowan had been lying to her about this for almost her whole life was so alien, so vile, that every muscle in her body shook with the effort to make it go away. When she finally found her voice, she whispered, "How… how could you?"

"I'm sorry," he said for what might as well been the thousandth time. "I understand that you're mad at me-"

"_Mad_ at you?!" The volume of her voice surprised even her. "Mad?! I'm _mad_ at you when you leave your dirty dishes all over the kitchen! This is… it's… I don't even know! I can't even think of a word to describe how this makes me feel. You lied to me about my father! How could you betray me like this?" Her voice was rough and hoarse. Her throat tightened. She wanted to scream. Her breath came in rough wheezes and she wrapped her arms around herself, trying to come to terms with this news.

"I was trying to do what's best for you," Rowan said.

"Stop it!" she shouted. She was pretty sure the others were awake now, except for Pierce who could sleep through the apocalypse, but they were tactful enough to pretend to still be unconscious. "You're not Dad, Rowan! You don't get to make decisions about what I need to know."

"I didn't want to hurt you."

How _dare_ he look like he wanted to cry. She was the one who deserved to cry right now. She knew that this was difficult for Rowan, but he had brought it on himself. "Well, you failed." She stood up. Sand cascaded into the now vacant hole in the side of the dune. "Just – just leave me alone."

She started to walk up the side of the dune. "Spirit, wait!" Rowan started to follow her.

She shoved him and he fell back into the sand. "Go _away_!" He stared at her like a wounded puppy, but she had no sympathy to spare for him. She glared, and then whirled around and stomped up the sand dune. When she reached the top, she slipped over the other side and fell down into the sand. She let sand pour around her, and curled herself into a ball on the side of the dune.

She had never been one to cry, because crying didn't fix problems, but suddenly she found that more than anything else in the world she wanted to bawl her eyes out. Now that she finally felt the need, though, no tears would come. The angel transformation process had already stripped her of the ability to shed tears, and she had missed her chance to have one last cry. This realization did nothing but compound the desire for a good sob.

It wasn't fair. She only had a few more weeks to live and now Rowan had gone and ruined everything. How could she trust him after this? She knew without a doubt that he loved her and tried to do what he thought was best for her, but she couldn't trust that what he would decide was really in her best interests. What else had he been lying about? She wanted to spend her last few weeks alive enjoying life and getting the most out of her relationships with her friends, but this had put a dark shadow over everything. She wished that Rowan hadn't lied about it in the first place, while part of her also wished that he'd never told her at all. At least then she'd be able to die happy.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there. She was content to sink into the sand and let time rush past her. She heard someone walking up the other side of the dune, and felt a spike of anger that it was probably Rowan trying to apologize. When the person finally rounded the dune, however, she saw that it was Kratos.

He sat down next to her and didn't say anything at first.

In a soft voice, Spirit said, "Did you hear our argument?"

"Chosen, I think everybody in a one mile radius heard that."

"Sorry."

"It's alright."

Spirit glanced up at the peak of the dune, as if she could see over it. "How's Rowan?"

"Miserable. Pretending he's asleep. Do you want to apologize?"

She scowled and shook her head. "No." She didn't want to hear Kratos say she should. She knew her words had hurt him, but he had hurt her far more, in her opinion at least.

"I don't think you're obliged to," Kratos said, seemingly reading her mind. "Whether you choose to forgive him or not is up to you."

Spirit sighed and looked to Kratos. "Why did he do that, Kratos? I just… I can't understand why he would lie to me."

"He loves you," Kratos said. "And sometimes, people make stupid decisions about people they love. They think they know what is best for their loved one and run ahead with stupid ideas. They love someone so much that the thought that they could be hurting them doesn't even occur to them."

"My brother is so stupid."

"I think everybody feels that way about their siblings." He looked down at her. "Has this revelation affected your decision to go through with world regeneration?"

She shook her head. "No. I still want to save the world. I'm just… sad. I don't want to spend my last weeks alive angry at my brother, but I don't know if I'll be able to get over this before I die. I wish I could cry, but I can't anymore, and that makes it worse." She rubbed her eyes as if she actually were crying. "I'm scared," she admitted. "I'm so scared of dying that it hurts sometimes. But I won't let this stop me, because there are so many other people who have it worse than me."

"Have you decided when you're going to tell Rowan and the others about the final seal?"

She hesitated, considering this. Of course she had to tell him. If she didn't, she'd be a massive hypocrite. She was afraid that if she told the others, they'd be outraged and try to convince her not to go through with it. She was so scared that she worried that they'd be successful in convincing her to live, and then what would happen to the world? "I'll think about it," she said.

"I'm uncomfortable letting you stay here out of sight all night."

"I'll come back to camp in a little bit. Just give me a couple more minutes, please?"

Kratos nodded. "Very well." He stood up and started back over the dune.

"Thank you, Kratos," she whispered, not sure if he had even heard her. "For everything."

* * *

Finding Genis' hotel was easier than finding the police station, since there was only one anywhere near the station. Zelos reached the front desk first, and asked the woman behind the desk, "Yo, we're looking for a friend of ours. Is there a little half-elf kid staying here?"

Lloyd hated the way the woman's face wrinkled up at the thought of a half-elf. "Yes," she said. "A white-haired kid in room 203."

"Thanks," Zelos said, and they headed for the stairs.

This whole half-elf thing was just ridiculous, Lloyd thought as he made his way to Genis' room. How could so many people still hate half-elves after four thousand years? Should they have at least gotten bored of it, if nothing else? You'd think that after four thousand years they'd get tired of hating half-elves and move on to something else.

Zelos knocked on the door of room 203. Lloyd's anger dissipated when he heard Genis' voice. "Who's there?"

"Surprise!" Zelos said. "Now open up."

"Zelos?" Genis said, and Lloyd heard the click of a lock.

"No, a kiss-o-gram," Zelos said sarcastically. The door swung open and Genis looked up at them with surprise and hope.

"Lloyd!" Genis said. "And everyone! You're here!"

"Of course," Sheena said. "As soon as we heard Raine was in trouble, we came straight here."

"Come in, guys." Genis' hotel room was fairly small, with two twin beds and a table with some chairs. The group spread out across the chairs, the beds, and the floor. Lloyd sat next to Genis on the bed.

"We need to figure out what to do about Professor Sage," Lloyd said.

"I know," Genis said. "I've been thinking about this for days, but I can't figure out what to do."

Regal said, "We assume that if we catch the true perpetrator, they will let Raine go."

"Right," Genis said. "But I don't know what to do. I tried asking people if they had any idea about what happened, but no one will listen to me because I'm a half-elf."

"Well, we'll just try again," Lloyd said. "Now that all of us are here, they'll have to talk to us, right?

"One can hope so," Regal said.

"No point sitting around here," Lloyd said. "Come on, Genis, let's hit the streets."


	33. Family

**Chapter Thirty-Three: Family **

Rowan saw palm trees up ahead. He barely dared to believe they had really reached the oasis. It was a small comfort to make up for the fact that he'd felt like crap all day. He knew the others had overheard their argument. Pierce tactfully avoided mentioning it, but he had such a terrible poker face that he might as well have shouted his disapproval.

As they trudged through the sand, Rowan stayed off to the side of the group to avoid the others. He didn't want to hear their opinions on what he'd done. He walked alone, until Shea slipped over and took up pace next to him. "Hey," she said in a low voice.

He grunted in reply.

"I just wanted you to know that I think Spirit has a right to be angry with you."

He glared at her. "Gee, thanks," he snarled. "That really helped."

"You didn't let me finish. She has a right to be angry, _but_ I also think you shouldn't beat yourself up too much. Not telling her that your dad died was a pretty crappy thing to do, but you were screwed the moment you didn't tell her in the first place, and I think you handled it pretty well, all things considered. You made that decision when you were ten and you've had to live with the ramifications of it ever since. Everyone makes stupid decisions when they're ten; I don't think you're a horrible person because you were afraid of bringing this crappy decision to light."

"Thanks," Rowan said, though he didn't feel any better. All he ever wanted was to follow Dad's last request and take care of his sister, but he didn't seem to be doing a very good job of it.

Shea switched the subject and said, "So, how are you liking the desert?"

"I hate it," Rowan immediately replied. Then he worried that Shea might find that offensive. She had grown up here, after all. He'd made enough of a mess of things with his thoughts on half-elves, and he didn't want to insult her further by hating her home. "I mean, it's just not for me. I'm used to a much cooler climate. I'm sure it's great if you're used to it."

Shea laughed. "Nice one, Mr. Smooth."

"Sorry. It's just hard to understand how people can stand living here, because it's killing me."

"It's all just what you're used to," Shea said. "If you grow up with something, it doesn't seem strange or foreign. It's just… life."

"So, are you looking forward to seeing your home?"

Shea didn't answer immediately. She frowned, and kicked the sand a bit as she walked. "Sort of... I haven't been here in over ten years, but we didn't exactly leave under the best of terms. There was a big fight in the village about whether they should open themselves up to human travellers or not."

"Considering what you said yesterday, I take it they decided not to?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Some of them thought that it would be good for us to open up trade and get more interaction with the outside world. The others argued that every interaction with humans was inviting disaster. A long time ago, some humans came to the oasis and ended up massacring most of the people there."

Rowan gaped at her. "What? Why?"

Shea raised an eyebrow. "Because they were half-elves, obviously."

Rowan scowled. He knew he had issues with half-elves, and that he always had, but he also knew that he had never been so bad as to think it was ok to slaughter a village unprovoked. He felt a bit better about himself for thinking that, until he reminded himself that he'd never even thought about it, because the idea that half-elves lived peacefully in innocent villages outside of ranches had never occurred to him. Still, he liked to believe that if he _had_ thought about it, he'd have condemned it.

"Anyway," Shea said, "my mom was pro-opening but the rest of my family said no. It turned into a huge fight and people on both sides said some pretty harsh things. I was just a kid, but I sided with my mom and I said some pretty awful things to my relatives. The village ultimately decided not to open up because it was too risky, but my mother and her family had disowned each other by that point. So, she packed our things and we left the oasis. We went to Triet first, to find my father. I'd never met him, but I think my mom hoped that when he learned he had a child he'd want to be a father and take care of us."

"When did he and your mom meet?" Rowan asked. "If the oasis is closed to humans, I mean." Not all parents had angelic intervention to get them together, he thought bitterly.

"Oh, sometimes people from the oasis travel to Triet for supplies and stuff. My mom and her sister went one time and spent a couple days in Triet and she had a fling with a guy. Anyway, we went to Triet to find this guy, but he didn't want anything to do with us."

Shea looked down, and Rowan could tell that this still hurt her, even all these years later.

"I think he was embarrassed by me," Shea said. She hurried on, so as not to dwell on her father. "So anyway, we headed north. My mom said we would find a better life in the Iselia region, and I haven't seen my family since. I don't know if they're still angry or even want to see me. Master Boltzman asked me several times if I wanted to return, but I always turned him down. I was always too scared to face them."

"I'm sorry we're dragging you back here."

"It's ok," she said. "I think I always knew I would have to come back eventually."

Rowan saw something shimmering up ahead, and he could almost taste the fresh water in his mouth. There were palm trees and bushes, with tents set up around the edge of the water. He couldn't wait to get to that lovely shade.

"Hey, Shea?" he said. "I don't know too much about him, but… your dad's an idiot." She looked over at him, wondering where he was going with that. Rowan rushed through saying, "To be embarrassed by you, I mean. I know my opinion doesn't count for much, but for what it's worth, I think you're amazing." He was pretty sure his face was turning pink, but luckily he was already sunburned so maybe she wouldn't notice. "I think – I think it isn't fair that you have to hide yourself in order to be able to be a doctor. Because you're really great at what you do, and it's not right that people won't let you do it because of how you were born."

It had sounded stupid in his head, so why had he blurted it out anyway? He was such an idiot.

Shea, though, smiled at him. "Thank you, Rowan."

A few minutes later, they had reached the edge of the oasis. The shade of the palm trees was like stepping into heaven.

Breaking the illusion of heaven were a group of angry-looking half-elves armed with spears. Some of them looked more like Trietan humans the way Shea did, while others were more obviously elfin, with clearly pointed ears and fair skin that had been tanned by the harsh sun. The only common feature among all of them were the looks of hatred and resentment they gave the group.

"Get out of here, humans," the leader said. She was one of the more Trietan-looking ones, with her dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. "This is our land."

"Please," Pierce said. "We just want to refill our water supplies. That's all."

"Ha," another man said. "We've heard that one before. And then 'refill water' turns into 'slaughter the vile half-elves who control it.' Now get out before we make you."

"Wait," Shea said, stepping forward with her hands raised. "Please, wait. These guys mean you no harm. They're with me."

The leader lowered her spear and stared at Shea with disbelief. "Shea? Is that you?"

Shea faltered. "Uh - yes. I used to live here."

The woman dropped her spear and launched herself at Shea. Pierce reached for his sword in case she was attacking, but instead she wrapped her arms around Shea and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Shea, we thought you were dead."

Shea's voice was muffled through the woman's shirt when she said, "Aunt - Aunt Amra?"

Amra stepped back and looked at Shea with a happy smile. "You've certainly grown up since I last saw you. What are you doing travelling with these humans?"

Todd raised his hand. "Uh, I'm a half-elf."

Rebecca said, "And technically Kratos and Spirit aren't human either."

"They're my friends," Shea said, ignoring them. "We're on an important journey. Can we please have some water?"

Amra laughed. "We'll give you more than water! Come, Shea, you grandfather will be so happy to see you."

Shea glanced back at the others and asked, "And my friends?"

With less pleasure, Amra said, "I suppose we can let them in, if they're with you. But they must leave their weapons with us."

"That is acceptable," Pierce said.

Kratos was hesitant to give up his sword, but did so after a glare from Spirit. The group trailed Shea into the small village, feeling the untrusting glares from half-elves from every direction. Rowan wondered if this was how half-elves felt all the time.

Near the edge of the water was a large beige tent. Amra disappeared inside it for a couple seconds and when she came back, she was accompanied by an older man with greying hair. Like Amra, he wasted no time in engulfing Shea in a smothering hug.

"H-hi, Grandfather," Shea said when she was released.

"You're home," he said. "It's been too long."

"I wasn't sure I'd be welcome," she said, eyes on the sand. "Mom and I didn't exactly leave on the best of terms."

"Nonsense," her grandfather said. "Family is too precious to lose over disagreements."

Spirit's eyes flickered to Rowan, but for once he found her expression unreadable.

"Now come," She's grandfather said. "We must give you and your friends a proper welcome."

"We just need water," Todd said. "We don't want to impose too long."

"Don't be ridiculous," Amra said. "Stay here for the day and get some rest, eat your fill and drink as much as you want, and tomorrow we'll send you on your way with camels to ease your journey."

"That's really not necessary," Pierce said.

"Sh!" Rebecca said. "Don't turn down food!"

Shea's grandfather laughed, and led them away.

What followed was the most restful day they'd had in quite a while. They rested in the shade of the trees and went swimming in the shallow oasis water. Shea turned out to have many more relatives than just her aunt and grandfather. Throughout the course of the day, they met more cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and family friends than Rowan could keep track of. This was complicated by the fact that everyone in the oasis considered everyone else family whether or not they were actually related by blood, and Rowan gave up trying to remember which of Shea's cousins were actually Amra's children and which were just close friends of said children.

To complicate matters, half-elves had such long lifespans that there were also great-aunts, great-great-uncles, and fourth-cousins-twice-removed. Most of them were hesitant around the humans at first, but as the day wore on, they warmed up. Shea's younger cousins, who had never seen a body of water bigger than the oasis, wanted him to tell them about sailing, and listened in excitement at his description of the vast water of the ocean. One of Shea's grandfathers - Rowan wasn't sure how many greats went in front - talked to Rebecca about Tethe'alla and how much it had changed since the last time he had been there before the worlds split.

By the time the sun went down, Rowan was pretty sure he'd had a conversation with every single half-elf in town. He'd met more half-elves today than he had in his entire life, and not a single one of them fit into the depraved monster mould he'd always been told was the norm. In fact, they were some of the friendliest people he'd ever met

They ate dinner sitting on a blanket in the sand. They were eating rice on some sort of flat bread covered in a spicy sauce, and while Rowan found it rather strange and not exactly the tastiest thing he'd had in his life, Shea gobbled hers up like it was a race. It must have been a long time since she'd had the food she grew up with. Spirit glanced around to make sure no one was looking, and then passed her dish to Shea. She hadn't wanted to refuse their hospitality, but obviously couldn't actually eat. Shea winked at her and then Spirit's dish disappeared almost as quickly as the first.

When he was finished, Rowan laid on his chest on the blanket, looking out at the village. Tents and campfires scattered around the oasis. It looked like a temporary camp, but they clearly lived here full time. He saw a pale-faced, blonde-haired woman walk past, and he said to Shea, "This probably sounds really tactless of me, but how come lots of people here don't look Trietan?"

"Some of them aren't," Shea said. "They come from other regions because this is the most isolated and safe half-elf communities in the world. Plus, in this community at least, the human blood we've mixed with is mostly dark-skinned Trietan, coming together with pale-skinned elves. The farther along the spectrum to elf you are, the lighter you skin is, generally."

"What do you mean, a 'spectrum' of elves?"

"I mean, most of us are quarter-elves or sixteenth-elves or three-fourths-elves."

Numbers blurred through Rowan's mind. "Er, what?"

"Different fraction variations of elfness and humanness."

Rowan shook his head. "Never learned fractions, sorry."

"Uh… here, it's like this." She leaned forward and drew three vertical lines in the sand. "The line on the left is an elf, the one on the right is a human, and the one in the middle is a pure half-elf, exactly half-human and half-elf. Understand?"

He nodded. It was simple enough so far.

"Ok, now this is me." She drew another line in the sand, in between the middle one and the right one. "That's a quarter-elf, with a half-elf parent and a human parent. But if the half-elf had a kid with an elf, they'd be a three-fourth elf, over here." She drew a line between the far left line and the middle one. "There are barely any elves in Sylvarant anymore, so the only way to get an exact half-elf now is if two half-elves have a child. So then, a quarter-elf has a child with a half-elf, and now this kid is in between those two." She drew another line. "And if that kid has a child with a human, the child would be halfway between them, over here." Another line. "And then these two have a child, and you split the difference again and now this child is here." She tried to fit this line in between two of her earlier ones, but there wasn't enough space between her finger-strokes and the three lines merged together. "You can keep going forever, hypothetically. Every generation creates a new fraction of how much elf blood you have compared to how much human." She started drawing lots of lines, until her neat lines in the sand turned into a muddled mess.

"Slow down," Rowan said. "It's all mixed up. I can't even tell where the human line ends and the half-elf lines start."

She raised her hand from the mess and said, "Exactly."

Later in the evening, they sat in a circle around a bonfire along with some of Shea's closer relatives. That is, the ones who could describe their relationship to her in two words or less. Shea sat between Rowan and Amra.

"It's so wonderful to have you back, Shea," Amra said. "We've all missed you. Why don't you stay?"

Rowan shot Shea a look, but she was too busy looking at Amra to notice. "Stay?"

Her grandfather nodded. "You don't have to leave. This is your home, Shea. We all would love for you to stay."

The possibility of Shea leaving had never even occurred to Rowan. He was suddenly filled with fear that this was the last night he'd ever see her, if they left in the morning and she stayed behind. Why wouldn't she want to? She belonged here, and he knew it. She didn't have to hide herself here, and she could live with her family who loved her again. It would be selfish to wish for her to leave them behind again.

She surprised him, then, when she said, "I'm sorry, but... I can't. This journey we're on is important, and I want to see it through to the end."

"We understand," Amra said, wrapping her arm around Shea's shoulders. "But maybe after you're done, you can come home?"

Shea shook her head. "I would love to stay here with you, but I just can't. I need to go back to Cleopolica. I have patients there, and they need me. The half-elves there don't have any other doctor, and they could die if I don't return." She looked over at Pierce and added, "Assuming Captain Asgard allows me to reopen my practice."

"We'll work something out," he said, "as long as it doesn't break any laws. We'll figure out a new method of funding."

"And there's a book I need to find," Shea said. "So that I can finally figure out how to create a panacea. I'm sorry, Aunt Amra, I have too much work to do to spend the rest of my life in this secluded village."

Her grandfather nodded. "I understand. Your dedication to healing and helping others is admirable. I'm very proud of you, and I'm certain your mother would be, too."

Shea's smile could have outshone the bonfire. "Thank you."

Later, Shea's grandfather showed them to a spare tent where they could spend the night. It had been a good day, but still long and hot. Rowan settled gratefully into a pile of blankets. Spirit stayed out to sit at the oasis. He considered going after her, but she probably didn't want to speak to him right now. She hadn't said a word to him all day, and he wondered if this was how everyone else felt around her all the time.

Shea stayed out a bit longer to catch up with her aunt one-on-one. Rowan could hear them talking through the wall of the tent, and rolled over to try and ignore them. He was trying to get some sleep, and didn't want to be kept up by their girl-talk all night. He considered getting up and asking them to move farther away from the tent, but that would require getting to his feet and leaving his cocoon of softness.

He tried to block it out, until he heard Amra laugh and said, "You're just like your mother, you know."

"And how is that?" Shea asked.

"Don't give me that ignorant look! Look at you, falling for a human."

Suddenly, Rowan found himself _very_ interested in her conversation.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Shea said.

"Sure you don't, honey. Every time I looked at you today, you were with that boy. Don't go telling me you're 'just friends', because I've had friends and you don't look at your friends the way you look at that boy when he's not looking."

He shouldn't be listening to this conversation. Shea would be furious if she knew he was listening. It was her fault for talking so close to the tent!

"I…" Shea faltered. "It's complicated."

"Of course it is. He's a human. And from the impression I got, not one overly fond of half-elves." Amra sighed. "You know I love your mother, and her having you was a great gift, but I won't say that her falling head over heels for your father wasn't a mistake. You're setting yourself up for heartbreak."

"No, I'm not," Shea said. "I know what happened with my parents. I'm not going to follow Mom's footsteps and become infatuated with a guy who likes me but hates my race."

"It looks to me like you already have, honey."

"I don't think he's like my dad. I know humans have done awful things to us, but half-elves have done awful things to him personally. He has trouble separating 'half-elf' from 'Desian.' I'm pretty sure he knows logically that it's wrong, and maybe… if he gives it enough time… I think he could be accepting of all half-elves."

Amra snorted. "The day a human is accepting of all half-elves and not just the one he's attracted to is the day Tethe'alla reappears. You really going to wait that long, honey?"

"What else can I do?" She sighed heavily. "After all, I've fallen for him."

* * *

Rowan looked at the camels with skepticism. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to ride one, since the hump took up all the space on the back. Shea's grandfather and brought out four camels, already set up with brightly coloured blankets across their backs and saddles in place. The trouble was that camels were very tall and the saddles were on top of the humps, meaning he'd have to be up even higher, and he didn't like the idea of perching up there.

"I know Shea can ride a camel. Now, who here has experience riding any other sort of mount?" Amra asked.

Kratos, Pierce, and Rebecca raised their hands.

"Perfect," Amra said. "Shea, you take the lead camel and we'll put most of the supplies on with you. The rest of you, pair up with the experienced riders and pick a camel."

Spirit went with Kratos, Todd and Pierce were already standing next to each other, and Rebecca looked to Rowan with a grin.

"Looks like it's going to be you and me, Ginger," she said.

"Would you stop calling me that?"

"Sure, when you stop being a ginger."

"I can't help my hair colour, you know."

"Too bad for you."

They climbed aboard the camel, Rebecca taking the lead. The camel got to its feet, and the ground looked very far away.

"Have a safe trip," Amra said. "Don't worry about the camels. Take them all the way to your boat; they'll find their own way home."

"Thank you for everything," Kratos said. "Your hospitality is greatly appreciated."

"Come back any time," Amra said. "Especially you, Shea. You will always find a welcome home here."

"Thanks, Aunt Amra, and Grandfather. I'll try to come back and visit some time. Bye!"

The camels set off into the desert. Rowan was sad to leave the shade and water of the oasis behind, but with camels to ride the trip to Triet should only take a day. The idea that they'd reach the last seal today was difficult to believe. It felt like they'd just done the Water Seal, but he supposed they would have had a shorter time between the others if they hadn't kept stalling to deal with Desians. Still, he didn't like the idea that they were almost done with their journey. When he'd promised Spirit he'd find a way to regenerate the world without her becoming an angel, it had felt like he had so much time left to figure something out. Now they had just one fight left and then it was off to the Tower of Salvation.

The camel seemed to waddle as it walked. It swayed back and forth, and Rowan wondered if this was how Shea felt on a boat. As much as he was apprehensive about reaching the Fire Seal, he'd be thankful to get off this thing.

"Where'd you learn to ride a camel?" Rowan asked Rebecca.

"I didn't," she said. "I learned to ride a velocidragon. They're not too different, though."

Across from them, Kratos struggled to find a comfortable position on the camel. Rowan wanted to tell him to give up, because he didn't think it was possible. Spirit seemed to be managing fine, but the inability to feel aching muscles in her thighs probably helped.

"I guess you're looking forward to finishing this journey, huh?" Rowan asked. "So that you can go home."

"Well, yeah, of course," Rebecca said. "I miss Tethe'alla. But, I must admit that it's been nice to get away from everything for a while. My life is so controlled back home. I've got priests and handlers who plan out every aspect of my day and who I should talk to and what I should say. Since I've been here, I've been able to be myself again, and I feel like I've really saved people, like I think a Chosen ought to."

Rowan thought about what Kratos had said about what his life would be like after this journey. He wondered if he was going to have to live like Rebecca, with priests telling him how to act and present himself. "Since you're the… the Mana Lineage or whatever, are they going to arrange a marriage for you, too?"

Rebecca shrugged. "I assume so." In a voice that made it clear she was quoting something she'd been told, she said, "Producing an heir to the Mana Lineage is my holy duty to Martel."

"Ugh. Me, too."

"That's just awful," Rebecca said. "I mean, you're going to infect the Chosen line with your ginger-ness."

"Hey! Why do you keep going on about my hair?"

"Because it always pisses you off," she said with a laugh.

Rowan grumbled and sulked, determined not to let her anger him again.

* * *

"I have to admit," Zelos said, leaning back against a wall, "I find Rebecca's prejudice toward red-haired Chosens slightly insulting."

"Don't worry, Zelos," Genis said. "Out of all the reasons she'd have to be embarrassed by you as a descendant, I'm sure your hair colour ranks pretty low."

Zelos glared at him. "Shut up, brat."

"Actually," Lloyd said, "it's kind of neat because the hair colours, switched, see? Rowan has red hair but Colette, his descendant, is blonde. And Rebecca is blonde, but her descendant is red-haired!"

"You're right, Lloyd!" Colette said. "That's pretty neat."

Genis rolled his eyes. "Hundreds of generations have passed between now and then, guys. Hair colour changing really isn't that surprising."

From the front of the group, Sheena looked back at them and said, "Are you guys even paying attention?"

Regal was finishing up a conversation with a young man, but from the disappointed look on Regal's face when he turned around, he hadn't gotten any information. Lloyd had been quite gung-ho about questioning everyone they found about the events of the riot, but after hours of wandering around and talking to people who had no idea what he was talking about, his enthusiasm had drained.

Lloyd was about to complain when a young man stopped beside the group. "Uh, excuse me. You're Lloyd's group, right?"

Lloyd spun around when he heard his name. "Yeah, that's us!"

"Ok," the man said. "I heard you guys were asking around about the riot. I thought I'd let you know that the guy who planned the protest in the first place lives at number five, Peach Pie Street. Maybe he can help?"

"That's great, thanks!" Genis said.

"No problem." The man walked away, and Lloyd turned to the others with his hand in a triumphant fist. "Alright, guys, we finally have a lead!"

* * *

The sky was a deep, orangey-red by the time they reached the entrance to Triet. The city itself was underground, carved into the rocky hills on this edge of the desert, but a massive archway set in stone marked the entrance. Leading up to the stairs that led to the city was a stone walkway lined in pillars.

"We can leave the camels out here," Shea said. "Just tie the reigns to a pillar. They'll be fine." Shea got off first and then went around to the others to get their camel to go down on its knees and let them off. Kratos stretched when he got off, not looking forward to mounting it again tomorrow.

"Anyone else feeling apprehensive about this city?" Rowan asked. "The last three seals we went to kind of had a lot of dead people…"

"I'm sure it's fine," Kratos said. "If any sort of calamity had befallen Triet, the community in the oasis would have mentioned it."

"Let's just get inside!" Rebecca said. "It's got to be so much cooler down there."

Kratos led the way down the stairs and into the city. Triet was a busy city, so no one paid them any mind as the entered. The stone streets were packed with people going about their day, and after the disaster at Thoda it was refreshing to see so many people alive and well. Despite what he'd said, he'd also harboured a small fear that some calamity had befallen Triet as well.

"It's not that much cooler down here," Rebecca said, looking around in disappointment as they walked down the street.

"These hills are volcanic," Shea said. "There's magma below us, which keeps it fairly warm. Still not as hot as being out in the sun, though."

The streets were illuminated by torches set in alcoves on the wall, and lined with merchants hawking their wares. It was easy to slip through the crowds without being noticed, because everyone was so busy with their own lives.

"Where's the seal?" Todd asked.

"Farther in," Kratos said. "There's an old cavern traditionally used as a temple to Efreet."

Noishe sat on Kratos' shoulder as they walked, not keen on being underground. Noishe hadn't been keen on Triet the last time they were here, either. He twittered in distaste into Kratos' ear, and Kratos said, "Oh, stop complaining."

Todd, who was walking closest to him, looked up in confusion. "Er, who are you talking to?"

Rowan cut in with, "His bird. He talks to his bird a lot. I think it's his best friend because no humans ever want to spend time with him."

Kratos glared at him. Noishe tweeted again, and Kratos considered telling Rowan that Noishe had just insulted him. Translating for a bird would probably do little to get Rowan to shut up, so he let it drop.

"You're so weird, Kratos," Rebecca said, laughing. "Why can't your best friend be a dog like a normal person?"

Noishe twittered in what Kratos knew to be a laugh. Kratos smiled slightly and said, "Maybe I'll get a dog in the future."

They navigated their way through the twisting streets of the city until they reached an area that was less crowded. Being underground, Triet didn't have much area to expand so the city was densely populated and overcrowded. Kratos was relieved when they got to the less busy streets on the far edge of town. He didn't like crowds not because he was shy or agoraphobic, but because he was a suspicious bastard and didn't like people bumping into him and hindering movement.

They walked up a flight of stairs and came out in a small antechamber. A carved archway, similar to the one outside the city itself, stood guard over another stairs case across the room. The antechamber was filled with carvings of Efreet, stone benches, and pillars set into the wall. It also contained Yuan.

"Yuan?" Kratos said, stopping short when he spotted his friend sitting on one of the benched against the way.

Yuan jumped to his feet as soon as he saw them. "Oh, you're here! Perfect; I've been waiting all day."

"Oh, hey, Yuan!" Rebecca said.

Yuan grinned. "Rebecca! It's good to see you. You really worried us when you went missing."

"Sorry," she said. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"I know. Just be more careful, ok?"

"What are you doing here?" Kratos asked. "You're not supposed to come down until after the seal is broken."

"I know," Yuan said. "But this seal is a bit different. There isn't a fight."

The group shared looks of confusion. "Why not?" Rowan asked. "I thought that was the whole deal?"

"So far, the three seals have tested the Chosen on her mind, her strength, and her compassion. Only one of those actually _required_ a fight. The other two could have been beaten without fighting at all."

Kratos ran the seals they'd done through his head. The sphinx and the riddles had been a test of the mind, obviously, and it would seem that besting the tentacled beast through saving it had been Cruxis' intention all along. Ironic that they would place that test at the seal where they had carelessly let hundreds of humans die. Yuan was right – if they had found the solutions to the first and third seals right away, they wouldn't have needed to fight at all.

"This is the last seal before the Tower of Salvation," Yuan said. "This one is a test of determination, to insure that the Chosen is truly willing to undergo the final seal at the Tower, with full knowledge of what is at stake and what she is sacrificing. She has to undergo this one on her own."

"What's going to happen to her?" Rowan asked.

"She'll find out when she enters the seal. All I can say is that she won't be in any physical danger. You don't have to worry."

"I don't like this," Pierce said. "After all we've been through, it feels wrong to send her in without any support."

Spirit stepped forward. "Fine," she said.

"Are you sure, Spirit?" Rebecca asked.

She nodded. "I have to."

Rebecca frowned, but it was clear from Spirit's expression that she had already made up her mind. Kratos knew better than to try to convince her otherwise.

"Alright," Kratos said. "We'll be waiting for you out here."

She nodded and started walking to the entrance of the seal. Halfway there, she paused and turned around. Her eyes met with Rowan's, and they stared at each other for a few seconds. Kratos couldn't tell what either of them were saying, but he had been around them long enough to know that some sort of silent communication was going on between them here.

The moment ended and she turned and walked up the stairs.

"Yuan," Kratos said, "may I have a word?"

"Sure," Yuan said.

While the rest of the group sat down to wait near the entrance, Kratos led Yuan across the room to speak in low voice.

"What is Mithos playing at?" Kratos asked.

"He's concerned that the Chosen needs to be one hundred percent willing to give up her soul," Yuan said. "He's worried that if she's not completely committed to this, her body will reject Martel's soul."

Kratos didn't like it, but he understood where Mithos was coming from.

"And speaking of Mithos," Yuan said, "he knows about the four Desians you killed in the Southern Ranch and he's not happy."

"I only killed two," Kratos said.

"Well, Veris reported four dead and Mithos is blaming all of them on you. He's _really_ angry, Kratos."

"I understand."

"I don't think you do." Yuan glanced at the others across the room, and then lowered his voice again because he had almost been close to shouting. "He's not just annoyed with you. He's not just throwing a temper tantrum. I think he might be seriously considering giving you some kind of punishment."

The idea of receiving punishment from his former student was almost laughable. What was Mithos supposed to do to him? It was ridiculous.

"I don't know what he's planning," Yuan said, "but brace yourself when you get back to Welgaia."

Kratos sighed. "Alright. Thanks for the heads up. So, do you know what Spiritua is facing?"

Yuan nodded. "Yeah. But you're not going to like it."

"Tell me."

Yuan told him. He'd been right; Kratos didn't like it.


	34. Spiritua's Choice

**Chapter Thirty-Four: Spiritua's Choice**

Spiritua woke up nestled in the blankets of her bed. She was so comfortable that she considered blowing off the day and lying here for hours. Her pillows were soft and her blankets were warm, and the slosh of water from the nearby Lake Sinoa threatened to lull her back to sleep.

She heard light footsteps approaching the door, and she sighed. Of course, he would never let her sleep all day. When she heard the bedroom door open, she pulled her blanket over her head and curled deeper into her blankets, pretending she was asleep.

She should have known better than to think it would fool him. The mattress bent as he pushed down on the edge and then a young voice said, "I'm hungry, Mom. Are you going to make breakfast?"

She yawned, and peeked out from behind her blanket. Ben stared at her with big blue eyes, practiced in the art of pleading. She dreamed of the day when he'd be old enough to make breakfast for himself, but since he was only six, she didn't really want him working the stove. "I suppose I could put something together."

She crawled out of bed. Her side had been warm, but her husband's side was cold since he left home so early. Jack worked with Rowan on the fishing boat. Ben started heading for the door, but Spirit caught him first and scooped him up into her arms. "Wow, you're getting heavy," she said. Her mind wandered back at least fifteen years, thinking about how much strength she'd had while becoming an angel. She'd never lose the ability to pick up her son if she still had angel strength.

Those days were behind her, though. She'd made her choice at the Fire Seal, and now she was just a normal human woman again. She set Ben down on a chair in the kitchen and started making pancakes. Sometimes she wondered whether she'd made the right choice. The world still hadn't been regenerated, after all, and Desians were as much of a threat as ever. They were mostly safe in the Cleopolica region, though. The Cleopolica ranch had been reopened, but the Cleopolica militia had continuously attacked them before they had a foothold. After many deaths on both sides, a treaty had been drawn and the ranch agreed not to prey on the people of the Cleopolica region and the militia agreed to leave them alone.

Pancakes sizzled on the griddle. The world was far from perfect. It was broken and it had problems, but wasn't that just life? She was happy, and more importantly, Ben was happy.

When the pancakes were done, she transferred them to a pair of plates and brought them to the table. "Here you go," she said, setting a plate down in front of Ben.

"Thank you!"

Ben tore into his pancakes in a feeding frenzy. Spirit considered telling him to slow down, but she knew from experience that he was too busy eating to pay much attention to her anyway. It was like when she had first started eating again after leaving the Journey of Regeneration.

She rubbed her temples and closed her eyes, wondering why she kept thinking about that today. Had she been dreaming about it last night? All of that was behind her and she usually didn't think about it too often, but today all her memories had been stirred up, like a muddy cloud drudged up from the lakebed of distant memory. She must have been dreaming about it, because all these memories felt close to the top of her head, like she'd experienced them recently.

For the first time in ages she thought about Rebecca, and wondered how she was getting on back in Tethe'alla. She wished they could communicate between the worlds, but Cruxis liked to keep them as separate as possible for some reason. Todd was living in Thoda again, the last she had heard, and no one had seen Kratos since he returned to Welgaia. The only ones she and Rowan kept in contact with were Pierce and Shea, since they lived not too far away.

She had zoned out, and barely even started on her pancakes. Ben, meanwhile, had finished his completely and waited for her to finish with his face resting on his fist.

"What's wrong, Mom?" he asked. "You look sad."

She forced a smile. "Everything is fine. I'm just thinking about the past. Don't you worry about it." She pushed her thoughts to the back of her mind and focused on eating her breakfast. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

When she was done, she picked up their plates and left them on the counter. "Now, what time is it? I think it's time to get you to school."

"Nooooo," Ben whined. "I don't wanna."

"You have to," Spirit said. "It's good for you." Luin still had no public school, but the priests at the Church of Martel ran classes. Most of the students belonged to the church, but some non-Martelists sent their children there was well.

"Uncle Rowan never went to school," Ben whined. "He says no one really needs to know how to read and write unless they want to be a stuffy priest."

Spirit frowned. "Did he tell you that?"

"Yeah."

She made a mental note to talk to Rowan about this later. He may have done ok for himself without any schooling, but giving her son an education was important to her. "Your uncle is wrong," she said. "Now go get dressed and we'll walk over."

Looking like she'd just told him to prepare himself for a guillotine, Ben trudged away to his room.

Ten minutes later, they walked down the street toward the church. People smiled and said hello as they passed by, and Spirit smiled and nodded. She liked her little town. Everyone knew everyone else here, so everyone knew Spirit well enough to not be insulted when she didn't speak a greeting herself. A smile got the message across just fine, as far as she was concerned.

They reached the church and Spirit sent her son in. "Have a good day," she said to Ben as he walked in.

He just turned and glared at her, communicating quite clearly that his day would not be good so long as he spent it in class and not playing by the river with his friends.

With Ben taken care of, Spirit went about her day. There was food to buy and parcels to pick up. Shea wrote to them frequently, and kept them stocked on free Apple Gels. Years ago, Spirit had told her that she needn't bother, but then she had a young son who seemed to go out of his way to acquire scrapes and bruises, and the Apple Gels came in handy.

It was noon by the time Spirit returned home, shopping bags in hand. She was hungry, and thinking about the sandwich she would have for lunch. She was so preoccupied with thoughts of lunch that it took her a second to register that there was a man sitting in her kitchen.

She stood frozen in the door. Her mind darted to her bow and arrows, stashed uselessly in her room. A second later, memories clicked into place and she relaxed. "Hello, Yuan."

He waved. "Good afternoon. Sorry to startle you."

She closed the front door and set her bags down on the counter. "Why are you here?"

"We need to talk. Please, have a seat."

She was a bit annoyed that he was asking her to take a seat in her own home, but humoured him nonetheless. "It's been a long time."

Yuan smiled awkwardly. "Actually, I saw you about five minutes ago."

Spirit raised her eyebrows. Had he been stalking her outside?

"Well, not _me_, exactly," Yuan said. "It's complicated. I'm not really here. Actually, none of this is really here. It's all in your head."

"What are you talking about?" Spirit asked. She was getting seriously annoyed at his cryptic attitude.

"Spirit, do you remember when you were in the Fire Seal and I gave you the choice to continue the journey and go to your death, or abandon it and live out your life?"

Spirit nodded slowly.

"You haven't made your choice yet."

"Yes, I have," she said. The fact that she was now a grown woman with a husband and son was a strong indicator that she hadn't sacrificed herself when she was fifteen.

"No, you haven't," Yuan said. "You're still in the Fire Seal right now. All of this is happening in your head."

Spiritua stared at him. "Impossible," she said. "I can't have been hallucinating for fifteen years."

"You haven't," Yuan said. "It's only been about ten minutes. And anyway, the illusion only kicked in this morning. You passed out in the Fire Seal and woke up in bed here. While all of this is an illusion, everything that happened before you woke up today is even _more_ of an illusion, because you didn't virtually experience it at all."

"What are you talking about?" How could he say this was an illusion? She could feel the rough wooden table beneath her fingers, and she could remember the sweet taste of her pancakes this morning.

"None of this is real," Yuan said. "This is an illusion to show you what would happen to the world if you didn't regenerate it. When the illusion ends, you will find herself in the Fire Seal again, and you will be able to make your choice."

"I don't believe you," she said. "You're saying that all my memories are fake, but they can't be. I remember the pain when I sprained my ankle and I remember so clearly the joy when Ben was born. It can't be faked."

Yuan shrugged. "It doesn't matter if you believe me. The illusion will end at sunset tonight, whether you believe it or not. Spend the rest of the day considering what choice you wish to make."

He got up, and for a moment Spirit sat still. She could barely comprehend what Yuan was saying. When Yuan neared the door, she pulled herself together and stood up. "You're telling me that my son doesn't exist," she said. "How can I believe that this is true?" She loved Ben more than anything else in the world, and now Yuan was saying he wasn't real and that all her feelings were fabricated? It couldn't be true – she couldn't handle it if it were true.

Yuan hesitated at the door. He kept his eyes directed at the floor, unable to bring himself to raise them. "I'm sorry. I never thought that this was a good idea. The illusion will end at sunset." He closed the door on his way out.

Spirit sank back into her chair, her head in her hands. It couldn't be true. It just _couldn't_. Ben had to be real. She remembered leaving the Fire Seal and returning to Luin. It had happened. When she saw Rowan, he would back her up and tell her she was right, because he'd been there.

_You can't_, she reminded herself. _He and Jack are on a late shift tonight and won't be back until after sunset_. She shook her head. It didn't matter that he wouldn't be back until after sunset, because nothing was going to happen when the sun went done. It certainly was convenient that they weren't available today. It was as if it had been planned that she wouldn't be able to talk to the other person who had been on the journey.

Spirit clenched her fingers and dug her nails into her palm. She felt the sting they left behind and told herself that this couldn't be faked. These last fifteen years had been real, dammit. It was just… well… now that she thought about her, her memories of the first fifteen years of her life felt more clear than the second fifteen years. That was odd, since logically she should have forgotten more of her childhood than her adulthood. But all of her memories from after the Fire Seal were kind of foggy, like she could remember the important points but the mundane details of life were absent. She remembered when she met Jack, she remembered their first date and their wedding. She remembered all the key points in their relationship, but now that it occurred to her, she realized she had no idea what she'd cooked him for dinner last night.

There were a lot of gaps in her memory now that she was aware of it. She couldn't recall any of the little pieces of life that filled in the spaces between the important milestones. She remembered lazy days in her childhood of lying in the grass and doing nothing at all, but she had no equivalent memories from her later life.

What if Yuan was right? Her whole life was a lie. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to come to terms with the reality sinking into her mind. Ben and Jack weren't real. She hadn't actually grown up and started a family. She was still that shy fifteen year old girl who wanted to save the world. She was going to have to go through all the trials of growing into adulthood _again_.

Or would she? If she decided to regenerate the world, she would die and none of this would happen. Jack would probably marry some other girl, and have some other son. The very thought of choosing not to live seemed absurd. She had to live, so that she could come home and have Ben. Everything was going to well for her!

Only… things weren't going so well for the rest of the world. She tried not to think about it, and news from the south was rare, but she knew that the Southern Ranch was still operational. There was a good chance that Martha and the others who had escaped had been recaptured and sent to a different ranch. Maybe they'd even been sent to the Cleopolica Ranch – it wasn't taking Cleopolican citizens, but everyone tried to forget that it did have prisoners and they came from somewhere. Immigrants from Iselia had claimed to have abandoned the region when the trees started dying and the lumber industry fell apart. Shea said that the Triet Oasis was starting to dry up. They were still fine in Spirit's home, but the rest of the world wasn't so lucky. It would probably last a couple more generations, but eventually the entire world was going to wither away and die.

What had happened to her? Why had she decided not to continue the journey? She knew she had been scared, but her exact thought process behind giving up was as hazy as the rest of her memories. Of course she had to regenerate the world. She'd known that when she was fifteen, and she was ashamed that it had taken her so long to come back to that decision as an adult. That is, as long as what Yuan said was true. A strong part of her still refused to believe it, and she'd continue life as normal after sunset.

She sat at the table, lost in thought. She didn't want to believe that everything was an illusion, but the more she thought about it, the more certain she became that it was. And so when she picked Ben up from school hours later, she didn't take him straight home.

"Dad is going to be home late tonight," she said. "You and I are going to have a picnic. That sounds nice, doesn't it?"

Ben nodded exuberantly. "Yeah! But… I have homework…"

Spirit smiled. "Don't worry about that today."

"Yippee!" He jumped around in circles around her.

"Calm down," she said. She had a picnic basket in one hand, and she held his with her other. His grip felt so real to her. He was here, he was real. How could he be fake?

"Mom?" Ben said. "You're hurting my hand."

She loosened her grip. "Sorry."

"What's wrong, Mom? You look really sad."

"It's… it's nothing, sweetheart."

They crossed the bridge to leave town, and Spirit laid a blanket on the grass slope overlooking the lake. She sat down and felt the warm sun on her face. It was so warm; she couldn't imagine going back to that angel body, unable to feel temperature. She hadn't experienced it for very long, but it had been torture. It made the world feel muffled, like she was going through life in a glass bubble.

Ben splashed and played in the lake. His laughter warmed her heart even more than the sun warmed her skin. She trailed her fingers through the green grass, but stopped when she hit a rough patch. She looked over with a frown. Amid the green was a patch of crackly, brown, dead grass. She scanned the hillside and saw a few more dead patched sprinkled throughout. The lack of mana was finally beginning to manifest in Luin. In a few years, it would likely be in a similar situation as the southern region.

She loved her son and she wanted to make the world a better place for him. But, the only way to do that would be to abandon this future and cause him to never even exist.

Hours later, the sun sank low in the sky. Fear curled in her chest. "Ben," she called, "come dry off."

He was disappointed to leave the water, but came back to sit with her nonetheless. She wrapped a towel around his shoulders, and then pulled him close to her chest.

"You're acting really weird today, Mom," Ben said.

"Sorry." She wrapped her arms around him, keeping track of the setting sun out of the corner of her eye.

Maybe this was all an illusion, and maybe this was the best way to test her determination to continue the journey, but did Cruxis really have to give her a son just to take him away? It was just cruel. Cruel like torturing the tentacled beast and letting all the Thoda Islanders die, cruel like allowing the librarians in the Tower of Mana to be terrorized and killed. Cruxis didn't care about the people of Sylvarant.

She thought about something Rebecca had said a long time – no, it had only been a few days ago, hadn't it? _Is it possible to be pro-Martel but anti-Cruxis? _It was, Spirit determined, because that was how she felt right now. She didn't want anything more to do with the whole rotten church or their hypocritical methods, and she hated that she had to work with them to save the world.

The sun was almost gone, now. She pulled Ben close, squeezing him tightly. Maybe the sun would set and nothing would happen. Maybe night would fall and she'd feel very silly for thinking all this could be an illusion. These thoughts didn't loosen her grip on her son. His wet hair tickled her cheek.

The sky was a deep orange now, and the sun just a sliver on the horizon. "You know I love you, Ben."

"Yeah, Mom, I love you, too," he said, obviously a bit annoyed and bewildered at her surge of affection.

She clung to her child, praying to Martel that Yuan was lying and that her life wasn't about to be stripped away from her. And then the sun slipped below the hills, and the world turned black.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the address?" Genis asked, looking up at the rickety wooden house when they finally reached it.

"It is what our informant claimed," Presea said. "Number five, Peach Pie Street."

"Nothing to do but knock," Lloyd said, stepping forward and rapping on the door. The whole house seemed to shake from the force, and Lloyd worried that it could come crashing down any second.

It didn't take long before someone answered the door. The man who stood before them was tall and broad-shouldered, with a shaved bald head. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah," Lloyd said. "Are you the guy who planned the protest the other day?"

"And if I am?"

His voice was deep and Lloyd found him slightly intimidating. _Get a grip, Lloyd!_ He said to himself. _You are the Eternal Swordsman. You don't have to be intimidated by some guy!_ "I don't know if you recognize me, but my name is Lloyd Irving."

"Yes, I know who you are."

"Great!" Lloyd said. "So, who are you?"

The man looked about as eager to talk to Lloyd as Lloyd did to listen to Raine's lectures. In a weary voice he said, "Brute Lualdi. Do you have a reason for visiting?"

"Yes," Lloyd said, a bit petulantly. He'd only been trying to be friendly. "As you may have heard, our friend was arrested and accused of starting the fight that happened at the riot. But she didn't and we're trying to find out who it might have been. Do you know anything about that?"

Lloyd hadn't thought that Brute could look any more annoyed than he already did, but he was proven wrong. "I had nothing to do with the riot," he said. "I already told the police that I had been intending a peaceful protest. Making Sylvaranti look like savages is against my best interests."

"We don't think you had anything to do with it," Regal said. "However, we thought that you might know something about who did."

"There was a half-elf. She was a young woman, with fair hair. I didn't get a good look at her. I don't know who she was or what happened, but I saw the protest turn to pieces centered around her and her human companion. I was irritated that they were ruining my protest, so I was going to try to break up the violence but it got out of hand before I got there. The human started swinging his sword around, and I saw them make a getaway down Memorial Avenue. That's all I know. Is there anything else you want?"

"No," Lloyd said, running the information through his head. "That was really helpful. Thanks!"

Brute shut the door in his face.

"Gee," Genis said, "what a friendly guy."

"In any event," Kratos said, "he has given us a lead. Perhaps we can find this half-elf girl on Memorial Avenue and be done with this whole affair."

"It's worth a shot!" Lloyd said. "Let's go, guys."

* * *

Spiritua lay on the floor of the temple, looking like she could be simply asleep. Kratos paced around the room waiting for her to wake up.

"She's going to be fine," Yuan said from his seat on the steps to the altar. "She's just having a really vivid dream."

Kratos just glared at him. Oh, this would test her resolve alright. A vision of future where the world wasn't regenerated would surely provide plenty of motivation to prevent it. Yuan had said it was fleshed out by her own thoughts, hopes, and dreams for the future, and Kratos didn't want to think about what that could mean for Spirit. She would have a life in this vision, not merely observe the world. Giving someone a fake life and then ripping it away just seemed cruel. Sure, it wouldn't harm her physically, but Kratos feared this would be the most painful and damaging seal yet.

"Would you stop pacing?" Yuan snapped. "It's starting to annoy me."

Kratos stopped short. "_You're_ annoyed? You're the one who's putting Spiritua through all this."

"It's not like I asked, you know," Yuan said. He rested his chin on his palm and looked up with annoyance. "I didn't want to do this any more than you did. Don't shoot the messenger."

Kratos sighed, and walked over to take a seat next to Yuan. "Do you think this is what Martel would have wanted?"

Yuan's eyes rested on Spirit. Kratos tried to imagine sweet, gentle Martel condoning the mental torture of an innocent girl. The mental picture was hard to draw up.

"No," Yuan admitted. "I don't think Martel would have wanted any of this. But maybe…" A glint of hope appeared in his eyes. "Maybe when she enters Spiritua's body, she'll be able to talk to us and Mithos. She can explain to him what it is that she wants, and she can talk to us one last time so we can have a proper goodbye, and then Mithos will let her rest in peace."

"Hm…" He hadn't thought of it that way. But, even if it did give Martel the chance to finally rest in peace, was it worth sacrificing an innocent girl to do it? Kratos didn't think so, and Martel probably wouldn't either. While he was thinking about the soul transfer process, he asked, "Did you get that exploding angel problem fixed?"

"Yes," Yuan said. "Mostly."

Kratos looked over with raised eyebrows. "Mostly?"

"We're about ninety-eight percent certain it will work. There are a lot of finicky details with the machinery and it's very delicate, and we may have discovered the hard way that if you don't monitor it carefully the whole thing might back up and start pumping in the wrong direction, but it will work."

"Ninety-eight percent of the time," Kratos said. "You're saying that if we had one hundred Chosens, two of them would explode."

"It'll work," Yuan said. "We're just working out some kinks and then the success rate will be even higher. Don't worry about the technical details and just concentrate on escorting her to the Tower."

His eyes turned to Spirit. "Assuming she still wants to go after this."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Spiritua suddenly took a deep breath and her eyes flashed open. Yuan and Kratos jumped to their feet and rushed to her side.

"Chosen," Kratos said, kneeling next to her, "are you alright?"

Spirit stared up at him on fusion. She slowly sat up, and looked around the temple. In a shaky voice, she said, "Is this… real?"

"Yes," Yuan said, crouching next to her across from Kratos. "The illusion is over."

Spirit's eyes fell on Yuan, and her expression changed to anger. "Why?" she demanded. She got to her feet, shaking a bit. "Why would Cruxis do that?"

Yuan couldn't bring himself to meet her eyes. "It wasn't my idea."

"I'm sorry, Chosen," Kratos said. "I had no idea they were going to do this."

She looked up at him and her eyes softened. "I trust you, Kratos."

_You really shouldn't,_ he thought. He hadn't been entirely honest with her about what would happen to her.

"Chosen," Yuan said, "this is the final seal. After seeing the outcome should you choose not to, do you intend to complete this journey?"

Spirit didn't answer right away. When she did, her voice was firm and determined, with an angry edge he didn't usually hear from her. "Yes," she said. "I am going to regenerate the world, but I am doing it for Sylvarant, not for Cruxis. Cruxis is cruel and manipulative, and I hate that I have to work with them to save the world. I only wish that by locking away the Desians, I could lock away Cruxis as well and prevent them from interfering in my world ever again."

Yuan hung his head. "I can't really blame you for that. Very well. We shall grant you additional angelic power."

He raised his arms and light cascaded down from the ceiling. It swirled around in a flurry of colours, before flowing into her and engulfing her with light. Her wings unfurled and she floated in the air for a few seconds, until the light died down and she dropped to the ground. She slumped back against Kratos, barely able to keep herself upright.

"It's done," Yuan said. "The final seal is unlocked. I'll see you two at the Tower." He walked to the altar and pulled his wings out, and then drifted into the air and faded away.

"Is everything alright?" Kratos asked.

Spirit nodded and stepped away from Kratos, determined to stand on her own. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Understanding dawned on her face, followed by sadness. Instead of speaking, she reached out and grabbed Kratos' hand. She squeezed it gently and smiled. She was alright.

"Let's head back," Kratos said. "We'll find an inn here in Triet and then depart tomorrow."

Spirit nodded, and they started to leave the temple. Spirit stumbled a bit, and Kratos caught her arm. Her face was pale and the angel sickness was setting in. Kratos guided her out of the temple and back down the stairs to the antechamber.

As soon as they appeared, the rest of the group jumped to their feet.

"Spirit!" Rebecca said, running forward. "What happened? Are you ok?"

"Was it scary?" Todd asked. "What was the seal?"

Rowan hung back, watching with concern but uncertain if Spirit wanted him close.

"Everyone calm down," Pierce said. "Give her some space."

Spirit looked a bit overwhelmed at the sudden attention, and Kratos said, "With the completion of the fourth seal, the Chosen has lost her voice." He might as well explain this, because it might be a while before the others noticed that anything was different.

"Her… her voice?" Todd said. "That's horrible!"

Rebecca gave Spirit a pitying look. "What else do you have to lose at the final seal?"

Kratos glanced down to Spirit, but she gave him a tiny shake of her head. She didn't want him to explain about her death yet.

"There's no point standing around here," Pierce said. "Let's find an inn before Spirit faints."

They picked up their belongings and made their way to the exit. Kratos led the way, so he was the first to see that someone was waiting for them outside the seal. There were two someones, actually, but Kratos was really only concerned with one of them.

He stopped short and stared. "…Lord Yggdrasill?"

"Hello, Kratos," Mithos said. He was in his older form, and was accompanied by another angel that Kratos didn't recognize. He didn't seem to be a normal soulless angel, though, since his face was showing emotion, chiefly awe and anxiety.

"Who's this?" Rowan asked once the others had exited and crowded around the road. "Nice body suit."

Mithos spared a second to give Rowan an annoyed, dismissive glance, and then said, "Greetings, entourage of the Chosen. I am Lord Yggdrasill of Cruxis."

"What do you want?" Kratos asked.

"There has been an emergency in the holy city," Mithos said. "Your presence is required."

"Me? Yuan just went back. If you need an angel, I'm sure he can-"

"I don't want Yuan," Mithos said. "I said _your_ presence is required. You are to return to Welgaia with me at once."

"Kratos can't leave," Shea said. "We're not done with the Journey of Regeneration yet."

"A replacement guardian has been provided," Mithos said. He gestured to his nervous companion and said, "This is Remiel. He is also an angel of Cruxis, and he will oversee the final leg of the journey. You can trust him as much as you trusted Kratos."

Kratos eyed Remiel. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with blond hair and white, feathery wings. He didn't look like an intimidating angel; he looked like a scared half-elf with wings tacked on. Remiel hesitantly waved at the group, his hand staying close to his chest. Kratos wouldn't have trusted him to guard a cornfield.

"The end of the journey won't take long," Kratos said. "I'm sure any emergency can wait until I finish this job."

Mithos glared at him. "This is not up for discussion, Kratos." Something in Mithos' eyes told Kratos that there was not actually an emergency of any sort, but Mithos wanted him to return to Welgaia for another reason.

Kratos sighed. "Very well."

Rebecca quickly looked up at Kratos. "You're going away? And leaving us with this bozo?" She jerked her thumb at Remiel.

"I'm sure you will be in competent hands," Kratos said. "You could return to the Tower with us right now, if you wish, although I would have to carry you." It would slow them down and be uncomfortable for both of them.

Rebecca frowned. "I'd like to finish the journey here."

Kratos turned to look back at the group. "It would seem this is where we part ways."

Pierce was the first to step forward and stick out his hand. "It's been an honour to fight with you, Lord Kratos," he said.

Kratos returned the handshake with a firm grip. "You as well, Captain Asgard."

Shea gave him a tight smile and nodded once. "Good luck in Welgaia."

Rebecca kicked the ground. "Man, this is too sudden."

"Cheer up," Todd said. "You of all people are most likely to see him again, being the Chosen at all."

"Yeah, I guess…"

Rowan glared at him. "Figures," he grumbled. "You drag as all over the world and then book it at the last minute. Hmph." He crossed his arms. "I guess you've saved my ass a few times... so... thanks for that."

"Have a good life, Rowan," Kratos said. He hadn't been expecting much in the way of a heartfelt goodbye from the kid.

Spirit was the last to say goodbye. She couldn't speak and she was kind of out of it with nausea, but she gripped his hand tightly and stared up at him, trying to communicate with her eyes how much she appreciated how much he'd done for her.

He nodded to let her know he understood, and then turned and walked over to Mithos. Remiel stayed behind as the other two angels walked away, and Kratos overheard him saying, "Ok, hi, everyone. Uh, my name is Remiel and we just need to get to the Tower so I'm sure we're going to get along just fine…"

Kratos took a moment to feel pity for his companions being left with that idiot. As he and Mithos walked through Triet, he asked, "Where'd you find the chump with wings?"

"He's a half-elf from the Iselia region," Yggdrasill said. "I figured it might be useful to have a couple lackeys capable of thinking."

They got a few curious looks from Trietans they passed. Mithos' skin-tight body suit was certainly not typical garb for the desert dwellers. "So, what is the true reason you want me back at Welgaia?"

"It isn't that I want you in Welgaia," Mithos said. "I just don't want you on this mission anymore."

"Is that so?"

Mithos looked to Kratos in annoyance. "I'm not stupid, Kratos. I know your motivation has waned. You've let yourself become attached to the girl and I'm worried that I can't trust you to carry this through."

"Of course you can trust me," Kratos said. "I'm offended that you'd even think I'd betray you after all we've been through together."

"It's not that I think you'd betray me outright," Mithos said. "Just that I'm not sure you have the guts to let her die. You have a soft spot for kids, after all."

"I do not," Kratos said immediately.

"You took me in as an apprentice."

"That was different," Kratos said. It didn't qualify as having a soft spot for kids just because he didn't like to kill them. Wasn't that simply human decency?

"Don't worry about it," Mithos said. "I'm not mad at you. Well, I'm mad about the Desians you killed, but we've already discussed that."

"Are you sure that Remiel will be able to complete this mission?"

"It will be fine," Mithos said. "It's not like he has to fight at any seals."

"I suppose so." He didn't like the idea of leaving them with Remiel. They may not be planning to go to any more seals, but not all of the fights they'd encountered so far had been planned. There was no way Mithos would allow him to keep tagging along, though, so he would have to put his trust in the others to protect Spiritua and get her to the Tower. Where she would die, because he no longer had access to the journey or a chance to dissuade her from giving her body over to Martel. Dammit.

* * *

A/N: Now might be a good time to point out that a passing familiarity with characters from Dawn of the New World might be helpful.


	35. The Agent of Cruxis

**Chapter Thirty-Five: The Agent of Cruxis**

They sat at a table in the corner of a restaurant. The rest of the patrons avoided their table, because everyone was rather baffled by Remiel's wings. Apparently he wasn't able to withdraw them, which probably had to do with the fact that they were made of solid feathers and not colourful mana. They made walking through doors difficult, but Spiritua didn't think anyone in their party felt any sort of sympathy for him.

"So," Remiel said, looking across the table at the group, "now that we're all settled, I think we should introduce ourselves." He was the only one on his side of the table, because while Spirit and Todd sat on the ends of the rectangular table, Pierce, Shea, Rebecca and Rowan had crammed onto one side because no one wanted to sit next to Remiel. Remiel looked around the group expectantly, waiting for someone to jump in. "Ok… I'll go first. My name is Remiel. I'm from the Iselia region originally, but now I work for Cruxis. And who are you?"

He looked to Todd, who then looked to the others for help. When none came, he sighed and said, "My name's Todd Price. I'm from Thoda."

Next to him was Rowan, but before he could speak, Rebecca chimed in. "This is Ginger."

"My name isn't Ginger," Rowan insisted.

"Yeah," Rebecca said. "He's kind of embarrassed by his name, but it's Ginger alright. He's the Chosen's brother."

Remiel looked between them in confusion. "Your name is… Ginger?"

"No," he said, "it's Rowan."

Rebecca winked at Remiel, and whispered, "Try to humour him."

Remiel appeared rather uncertain about the situation, and so turned his attention to Pierce.

"I'm Captain Pierce Asgard of the Cleopolica City Militia," he said. "I came on this journey to watch over this girl," he gestured at Shea, "who is a convicted criminal in Cleopolica."

Remiel turned his fearful eyes on Shea. "A – a criminal? Er, what crime did you commit?"

Rowan said, "She killed a man."

Shea gave him a quick, confused glance, but then smiled slightly. "That's right."

Pierce played along. "Yes, she was convicted for murder, so obviously I had to supervise her. She's very dangerous."

Remiel paled. "What – who – how – huh?"

Shea's voice was cool and even as she explained, "He pissed me off, so I killed him with my bare hands."

Rebecca said in a low voice to Remiel, "You probably don't want to cross her."

"I – I see," Remiel said. "Er, did Kratos know the Chosen was travelling with, um, with a murderer?"

"Oh, yes," Shea said. "He was a bit concerned because I tried to kill him once because I don't like angels, but he was strong enough to overpower me and so earned my respect." She smiled serenely at him, and Spirit could see Remiel's mind spinning as he wondered if he was powerful enough to overpower her if she should turn her ire on him.

They were interrupted when a waitress came by and delivered food. She gave Remiel a suspicious look, but otherwise left them alone.

While the others ate, Spirit rested her chin on her arms on the table, lost in thought. They were on their way to the Tower, and then she would die. It wasn't fair that she was so close to death but couldn't even feel the world to properly enjoy it. But then, there were a lot of things Cruxis did that weren't fair. The memory of what she'd seen in the illusion plagued her mind. She now had the uncanny experience of remembering things that hadn't actually happened. She remembered having a son and she remembered loving him, but she didn't love him anymore. How could she, when he had never existed in the first place? It was like waking from a dream and trying to sort out which of your emotions were based on reality.

And to top it all off, Kratos was gone. She felt like Kratos was the only person in Cruxis she could really trust, but he was gone now and her only link to the organization that was killing her was a bumbling buffoon who seemed to have less experience being an angel than she did. Part of her wanted to speed up and get to the Tower as soon as possible, because dragging this out was torture.

When they were done with dinner, Remiel said, "Alright, gang, let's head back to the inn."

Nobody moved. Rebecca rolled an uneaten olive around on her plate.

Pierce was the first to stand up. "No point sitting around here. Let's get some rest." As soon as he spoke, the rest of them leapt into action. There was a chorus of chair scrapes as they got to their feet and filed after Pierce, leaving Remiel to scurry along after them.

Then they headed to the inn to spend the night. Spirit shared a room with Rebecca and Shea, though it was only a two-bed room. She spent the night curled up in an armchair by the window, listening to the people happily going about their lives on the street below. It would be nice to be one of them.

* * *

Rowan never thought that he would miss Kratos, but now he found that he did. He supposed you never really appreciated what you had until you lost it, but… Remiel was the most annoying person he had ever met. At least Kratos had been competent. They stood in the lobby of the inn, waiting for Remiel to pay their tab. Rebecca had explained to him that paying was always Kratos' job, so he should pay for everything. He searched through his coin purse, whining that Cruxis hadn't given him any money for things like this and he wasn't sure if he had enough.

Spiritua quickly wrote something on a pad of paper she'd found in her room, and held it up to show the group. Everyone else chuckled a bit, while Rowan glanced quickly between the paper and the others, trying to figure out what everyone found funny. This was another annoyance he had that even eclipsed Remiel. Spiritua had discovered that she could communicate by writing, and in fact communicated more often than she usually did now that she wasn't expected to actually speak, but she may as well have been doodling squiggly lines as far as Rowan was concerned. Usually she talked to him more than anyone else, but now he didn't have a clue what she was saying.

Rebecca saw his confusion and said, "She just said that we should go on a shopping spree and buy things we don't need to make Remiel pay for them."

"Oh," Rowan said. He tried to force a laugh, but it felt awkward after everyone else had already done so.

Remiel finished paying, and rejoined the group. "Ok, is everyone ready to go?" he asked, smiling at them. Without answering, they picked up their belongings and prepared to head out. Rowan reached for his bag, but found that it wasn't on the ground where had had left it. He looked around in confusion, and then Spiritua handed it to him.

"Oh… thanks," he said. For the first time since their argument the other night, he forced himself to meet her eyes. He had feared he would find hatred, but what he saw surprised him. It wasn't forgiveness, which he didn't think he fully deserved, but if he had to put a word to it, it was acceptance. It was a look that told him that she didn't idolize him as her flawless older brother, but that she didn't hate him and think he was a horrible person, either. She looked at him like he was a human, and someone she was prepared to deal with. Rowan supposed he could live with that.

As they made their way through the city, Rowan considered that Remiel really wasn't _that_ bad. He was obviously trying his best. Everyone was just so annoyed that he was replacing Kratos that they leapt to cast him as a useless git.

When they left Triet, the hot sun smacked him in the face. He had forgotten how hot it was out here. Their camels sat in the shade of the entry, and in no time they were back in the saddle. Spiritua rode with Shea, because she had taken one look at the prospect of riding with Remiel and wrinkled her nose. Remiel didn't actually know how to ride, so his camel was connected to Shea's with a rope and he clung to the saddle looking like he expected to fall off at any moment.

"I don't know why they had to send Remiel," Rebecca said, several hours into the trip.

"…Uh?" Rowan said, rousing from his stupor. He was hot and sweaty and the constant swaying of the camel was putting him to sleep. It was a good thing Rebecca had spoken, because he'd probably fall off the camel if he fell asleep.

"Yuan could have accompanied us," she said. "I mean, I resent the guy for taking me away from my home, but he's not that bad."

"Maybe he's busy," Rowan said. "Doing… stuff."

"Man, you're really out of it today, aren't you?"

He scowled. "It's hot." He had a hat to keep the sun directly off of his face, but that did nothing for the sweat threatening to trickle into his eyes. He glanced over at Remiel and realized no one had remembered to give him a hat. Eh… he'd be fine.

"Do you think Pierce would be mad if we tried to race?" Rebecca asked.

"Probably," Rowan said. "The camel probably wouldn't like it either. Why?"

"So we could get there faster. Do you have any idea how stuffy this dress is? I feel gross."

"You don't look any grosser than usual."

She turned her head to narrow her eyes at him. "I'm going to pretend that you were honestly attempting to compliment me."

"If that makes you feel less gross, go ahead."

"Arrrgh…" she moaned. "I want to go back to Tethe'alla where I know that the nearest hot, miserable, endless sea of sand is in an alternate dimension."

* * *

There was only one hotel on Memorial Avenue, although Lloyd was bit hesitant to call it a hotel. It looked more like someone had returned to Palmacosta after the destruction, noticed that their building was still standing in the barest sense of the word and had a few extra rooms, and then tacked a sign out front asking for money.

They went inside, and Lloyd asked the man at the front desk, "Have you seen any half-elf girls around here?"

The man, who had been reading a newspaper and didn't look thrilled to be interrupted, said, "There's one in room 102." He immediately returned to his paper, and didn't seem to care if a group of strangers traipsed down the hall to visit room 102. Lloyd's theory of how professional this establishment was gathered evidence.

Down the hall and in front of room 102, Lloyd knocked on the door. It took a while for someone to answer, which worried him. They were finally at a possible breakthrough, and he didn't know where to go next if they didn't find the person here.

So it was with relief when the door opened and a young half-elf stood in the doorway with a scowl on her face. "What?" she snapped.

"Uh, hi," Lloyd said. "I'm Lloyd Irving-"

"Yes, I know who you are," she said. She had light blonde hair yellow eyes, and with a shock Lloyd realized he'd seen her before.

"Hey, I know you!"

"What?" she said, equally annoyed and confused.

"That's right!" Colette said. "We met you outside of Iselia! Your name is Alice, right?"

"That's right," she said. "What do you want?"

"Were you involved in the riot that broke out recently?" Regal asked.

"And if I was?" she asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

Before anyone else could answer, her male companion burst to the scene, nearly crashing into the open door in his haste to stand behind her. "It wasn't her fault!" the blue-haired man shouted. "My poor Alice was just minding her own business when some ignorant human accosted her merely for being a half-elf!"

Alice growled and stomped on the man's foot. "Shut _up_, Decus."

"I'm only trying to defend you," he said.

"Well, stop!" She looked to Lloyd in annoyance. "Yes, the riot started because some idiot said rude things to me, and then _this_ idiot," she gestured at Decus, "challenged him to a duel to defend my honour."

"If that's the case, we should explain to the chief of police immediately," Regal said. "Would you be willing to accompany us and explain what happened?"

"Uh, no."

"What?" Genis said. "My sister is in jail because of this! We just want you to explain what happened so she'll be released."

"I'm not going anywhere near the police," she said.

"Please?" Sheena said. "It would really help our friend. Just tell them what happened – you didn't do anything wrong so we're not asking you to turn yourself in or anything."

"I said _no_," she said, and then slammed the door in their faces.

"Hey!" Lloyd shouted, banging on the door. "Get out here! Our friend is in jail because of you! Just tell them what happened!"

He pounded until his fist hurt, and Kratos put a hand on his shoulder. "Lloyd, calm down. This isn't going to get them to come out."

Lloyd looked up at Kratos with fury. "But they can prove Professor Sage is innocent!"

"Yes, but screaming at them is not going to get them to help us."

"Let's return to the police," Regal said. "Perhaps if we tell them what we heard, it will be enough to get Raine off."

"We can hope," Sheena said.

Lloyd shot the door one last angry look before following the others out of the inn.

* * *

When Rowan first saw the glint of the ocean, he wondered if it was a mirage. The endless desert seemed like it would never end. Then he saw _Dorothy_'s mast, and his spirits rose. He had every intention of never setting foot in the Triet region for the rest of his life.

Nobody in the group had any feelings of remorse when they climbed down off their camels and Shea let the animals loose to find their way back to the oasis. Rowan was pretty sure that the smell of camel would never fully leave him, but maybe that would mask the stench of fish which he apparently already carried. The sun was high in the midday sky, so everyone worked quickly to prepare the boat so they could get out of the heat. Remiel was useless in this endeavour, but then Kratos had also been useless when it came to sailing so Rowan probably couldn't resent him too much.

"This is going to be our last sailing trip, right?" Shea asked when she climbed aboard.

"Hopefully," Rowan said, double-checking some knots.

Remiel dug around in his bag and pulled out a map of Sylvarant. He spread this out on the bench the curved around the edge of the ship and said, "We should stick to the coast." He traced his finger along the edge of the Triet region. "That way we don't have to worry about getting into trouble in the middle of the ocean."

Pierce leaned over his shoulder. "The Tower of Salvation is surrounded by mountains from the north. If we go up the coast, we'll reach the western tip of the northern region and have to cross the plains by foot and then go through the mountains just to reach the Tower."

"Yes," Remiel said, "but the ocean is dangerous and if we get stranded then there would be no way to get help and-"

Pierce ran his finger straight across the sea. "Rowan, take his northeast toward Fidalia. We can undock there and stock up on supplies before hiking to the Tower, and we don't have to cross the mountains if we approach it from the south."

"We can't go to Fidalia!" Remiel said. "You know they aren't accepting of Martel there. It's – it's a city of heresy!"

"We don't have to go around announcing we're from the church," Pierce said. "It's a major city; I'm sure they have travellers from all races and religions."

"But-"

"Tell you what," Rowan said, "when you know how to sail a boat, you get to decide where to take it." He looked to Pierce and said, "Should we go north around the island or south?"

"Hm…" Pierce consulted Remiel's map. "North, I should think."

"Got it."

"But…" Remiel looked between them, his sense of control slipping away as quickly as the boat slipped away from the beach.

As soon as they were at sea, the cool ocean breeze beat back the overbearing heat of the desert. Rowan set the boat on course and then leaned back in his chair, enjoying the gentle rocking of the boat in contrast to the swaying of the camel.

"Hey, Remiel," Rebecca said, "how long have you been an angel?"

"Oh, about two years now," he said. He flapped his wings a bit and said, "I'm so honoured to be part of this organization."

"So, what do you do all day?" Shea asked. "Do you live in the holy city with Kratos and Yuan?"

"Oh, yes," Remiel said. His mood lifted a bit as people actually tried talking to him. "Although… I don't see them. Ever, really. We live in different areas of the city because they are two of the Four Seraphim and vastly out rank me."

"Are there a lot of angels like you?" Rebecca asked.

"No," Remiel said with a content smile. "It's just me. There are other angels, but… they don't talk much."

"So…" Rebecca said with a frown, "you're the only one like yourself? Who do you talk to?"

"Nobody," Remiel said. "No one else is on my level."

Shea gave him an incredulous look. "You've lived there for two years with not a single other person to talk to? How are you not insane?"

Remiel forced a smile. "I am content to live my life in service to Martel. I can tolerate a bit of loneliness to do her bidding. And," he bit his lip and glanced around, like he was afraid of being overheard, "I think… maybe… if I do a good enough job, I might get promoted to the level of the Seraphim."

"You mean with Kratos and Yuan?" Rebecca asked.

He nodded. "Maybe. But if I do a really good job on this mission, then I might get promoted and then I'll be on the same rank as Kratos and Yuan and I'll be able to talk to them as equals." He had a starry-eyed look, like such a thing was a dream beyond his wildest imagination. "I'm sure I won't be at this rank for too long, so I can put up with a bit of loneliness until I get to be a Seraph, and then I'll have friends again."

Rebecca smiled. "Don't worry, Remiel," she said. "I'm sure you'll make it there some day."

He smiled back at her. "Thank you for your encouragement, Chosen."

"Although I would try to make friends with Yuan more than Kratos. He's kind of scary."

Remiel's smiled slipped. "O-oh, is he?"

Todd nodded. "He's terrifying. I can't imagine being trapped in a city with him and no friends for protection."

"Has he really not snapped and attacked you yet, Remiel?" Rebecca asked.

"Er… no… I haven't even met him personally," Remiel said. "Do you think he will?"

Rebecca and Todd shared a look. Rebecca smiled innocently. "I wouldn't worry about it if I were you."

"Yeah," Todd said. "There's no point worrying about something you have no chance of protecting yourself from… oops, I _mean_, there's nothing to worry about."

Remiel looked quite alarmed now, and cast nervous looks between Rebecca and Todd. "W-what are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Rebecca said. "Like I said, don't worry about."

"No, tell me," Remiel said. "What do you know about Kratos?"

"We've said too much already," Todd said.

"But… but…"

"Drop it," Pierce said. "Rebecca, Todd, stop messing with him."

Rebecca and Todd gave Remiel one last innocent smile, and then wandered off.

"Messing with me?" Remiel said. "So… they were joking?"

Pierce shrugged. "Maybe." Before Remiel could inquire further, Pierce also left the scene.

Rowan looked over at the nervous angel. "Hey, Remiel, why did you become an angel?"

"I thought I already explained," he said. "I wanted the chance to serve Martel and-"

"Yeah, yeah, you said that," Rowan said. "But why do you put up with having no friends and living all alone with no one to talk to?"

Remiel shrugged. "Well, it's – it's not that different from my previous life. I was the only half-elf in my village and the only one at my church… So, when Lord Yggdrasill appeared before me and offered me the chance to join the holy organization of Cruxis, where they accept half-elves as equals, it seemed like a huge step up from my previous life. Half-elves don't really have a lot of opportunities in life unless they want to be Desians."

Rowan glanced at Shea, who was watching Remiel with sympathy. Rowan thought about his own life. What would he have done if he couldn't have gotten a job as a fisherman? If no one would hire him because of his race, and he still needed to put food on the table for Mom and Spirit. Not everyone could be a genius doctor like Shea. For a brief instant, he wondered if maybe he would have resorted to becoming a Desian, not out of a seething hatred of humans, but simply out of desperation for work. He pushed that thought aside immediately. No, he would _never_ be like a Desian. Even in a hypothetical world.

* * *

Lloyd and company returned to the police station. By now Lloyd was sick and tired of wandering around Palmacosta all day, and couldn't wait to work this out so they could rest. "Hey, Dad," he said, "where were you in all this?"

"What do you mean?" Kratos asked.

"Well, Mithos made you go back to Welgaia. So were you just sitting around?"

"For the most part," Kratos said. "There wasn't much to do in Welgaia."

"Did you not see Spiritua again?" Colette asked.

"I didn't say that," Kratos said. "I haven't written myself out of the story completely."

Regal took charge when they entered the police station. The police chief was talking to the desk clerk, and he looked up in surprise when he saw them enter.

"Oh. Ah. You're back."

"That's right," Sheena said. "And we've got evidence."

"Really? And what is that?"

They explained. Lloyd tried to start explaining how they went to Brute's house, but Genis said that that wasn't important and jumped ahead to meeting Alice, and then Sheena talked over him to explain that they'd gotten a tip about the half-elf from the organizer of the protest, until Regal loudly cleared his throat and shut them all up. In a calm and precise manner, he explained the key points of what they'd learned and how Raine was not the instigator of the riot, but that the other half-elf was also innocent.

"I see," the chief sad, rubbing his chin. "Thank you for this information."

"So can you release Raine now?" Genis asked.

"Not yet," the chief said. "We still need to verify all this. Why don't you go back to your hotel and let us do some fact checking. If it all checks out, we will gladly release your friend."

"Excellent," Lloyd said, relief sweeping over him. Finally Raine was going to be ok.

In much happier spirits, they left the station and made their way toward Genis' hotel.

"Hey, Dad," Lloyd said, "when did Remiel go from being so… the way he is in your story to being the…"

Genis filled in, "Arrogant, human-hating asshole we knew."

Kratos shrugged. "Four thousand years passed. I never paid much attention to him, so I couldn't say when his change of heart began or ended."

Colette frowned. "That was the problem, though, wasn't it? You and Yuan never paid any attention to him, so he was always really lonely. He must have been so sad."

"Don't get too worked up about him, Colette," Sheena said. "Do you remember what he did to you?"

"Yes," she said. "But now I wish I could have had the chance to get to know him better. It's so sad that he was so lonely. He just wanted to be accepted as a Seraph."

Lloyd frowned. The last thing he had ever expected was to feel sorry for Remiel. "What happened next, Dad?" he asked, hoping to be distracted from these troublesome thoughts.

"Nothing happened for a few days," Kratos said. "They sailed toward Fidalia-"

"Oh, I was meaning to ask," Zelos said. "Where _is_ Fidalia?"

"It doesn't exist anymore," Genis said. "It was a huge city a couple thousand years ago, but it's gone now. It was located on the central peninsula south of the tower, on the bay-"

"Don't bother," Zelos said. "I know nothing about Sylvarant geography, and I don't expect to learn now that it's gotten muddled with Tethe'alla's."

"As I was saying," Kratos cut in, "they sailed toward Fidalia for several days without incidence. And then, the night before the last day of sailing, there was a… situation."

* * *

Rowan shivered as water ran in streams down his face. The rain hadn't let up for at least fifteen minutes now. The massive rain drops pounded on the deck, and on his head, like a drum. He might as well have taken a dip in the ocean as far as staying dry went. Everyone else was cozily below decks, but he wasn't comfortable leaving _Dorothy_ with no one to steer her in weather like this. Lightning flashed on the horizon. He'd already lowered the sails as much as he could in case the wind suddenly picked up. Thunder boomed through the sky. They weren't sailing through the lighting, luckily. Based on the wind, he thought they'd be able to skim along the edge of the storm without passing through the worst of it.

He saw movement from the corner of his eye, and glanced over to see Todd poking his head through the hatch. In the racket the rain was making, he hadn't even heard the hatch open.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked, raising his voice to be heard.

"You're soaked," Todd said. Rowan could barely see his face past the collar of his jacket pulled up and the brim of his hat, the one Rowan had worn in the desert, pulled down low. "Shea said you should go downstairs and warm up before you get sick."

"But the steering-"

"I can take it from here," Todd said. "If there's a problem, I'll holler."

"Might have to poke your head down the hull," Rowan said, stepping aside. "Not sure if I'd hear you over this storm."

"Don't worry about it," Todd said. "Just go dry off."

Rowan nodded, and left the steering wheel for Todd. He climbed down into the hold as quickly as he could without slipping on the wet wood, and then walked down the short hall to the tiny room where he knew Shea was. The others were in the common area, sitting around the table bolted to the wall and playing a card game.

"You awake?" Rowan asked, seeing Shea lying on her bunk.

"Unfortunately," she said, staring at the ceiling.

"We'll be in Fidalia tomorrow night," Rowan said, sitting on the edge of the bunk. "And it has that library you kept talking about, right?"

Her mood improved. "That is true. I think we'll have time to let me check out the library." They were hit by a particularly strong wave, and Shea's happy expression vanished with a groan. "Can you get me an Apple Gel, please? Ugh… I think it will make me feel better."

"Yeah, sure." He had some in his bag, which sat on a chair by the door. He reached for it, but they were hit by another wave and he stumbled, knocking it to the floor and spilling some of its contents. "Aw, come on," he grumbled, crouching and refilling it. He grabbed an Apple Gel that had fallen out, but then stepped when his hand found a folded piece of paper with some writing on it. He couldn't remember putting this in his bag.

"Hey, what does this say?" he asked when he returned to Shea.

She swallowed the Apple Gel whole before even giving it a glance. "Uh…" she lifted her head just enough to see the paper. "Oh, that's your name."

He looked down at the word on the paper. It seemed unfair that Shea could read it but not him – it was _his_ name, after all. He unfolded the paper and found that the inside was covered in writing. "I think it's a letter," he said. "Though I don't know why anyone would write to me, or when I got this." He tried to recall the last few days, and a mental picture of his bag mysteriously being handed to him by Spirit leapt to his mind. Had she slipped it in?

He passed it to Shea. "What does it say?" His inability to read had never caused him problems before this trip, but now he was starting to reconsider his decision not to learn. He made a mental note to ask Shea if she could teach him when she wasn't seasick.

"Hm…" she held the letter above her face so that she wouldn't have to sit up, and read aloud. "'Dear Rowan, I'm not really sure why I'm writing this because I know you can't read it anyway. Mostly, I think I just want to write this down because bottling it up is killing me. Maybe you'll find someone to read it to you after I'm dead.'"

She stopped, and Rowan's heart skipped a beat. His whole body stiffened and he wasn't sure if he'd heard properly. "W-what does it say?"

Shea's eyes skimmed the next line and her expression when rigid. "Oh, shit," she whispered.

"Shea," Rowan said. "What does it say?"

"I don't think I should be reading-"

"Tell me," Rowan said. "What does she say about being dead?"

Shea hesitated and bit her lip. She took a deep breath, and then went on. "'It feels good to put that into words. Dead. That's what I'll be when this journey is over. I'm not expecting you to find this until you unpack when the journey is over, so chances are that if you're hearing this, I'm already gone. Please don't be sad, Rowan. Now that I'm gone, the world has been regenerated and everyone else can live. My only regret is not being able to see the regenerated world with my own eyes. If you're in the new world now, then the best thing you can do for me is to live and enjoy it. I also want you to know that I'm not mad at you about Dad. I understand why you did it. I don't agree with your decision and I wish you had chosen a different one, but I don't want to spend my last days alive angry at you. I hope you live a long and wonderful life. Love, Spirit.'"

Rowan stared at the wall. Shea lowered the letter and stared at him. Rowan couldn't think of anything to say to break the silence. Spirit was going to die. She wasn't going to just become an angel and live far away, she was going to _die_. How could she be ok with this?!

"I'm not going to let her."

"Rowan, she already made her decision."

"Yeah, but it's a _stupid_ decision."

He got to his feet. Shea said, "Don't you dare try to talk her out of this. If this is what it takes to regenerate the world, then as the Chosen she has a right to decide this for herself without you interfering."

"I can't let her die," Rowan said. "I just can't." That was the only thought that was clear in his mind. Everything else was a fiery torrent of shock and fear. Spirit couldn't die. He couldn't let her die. He couldn't let Dad down and let her die. He had to do _something_. He started to walk to the door.

"Rowan!" Shea said, sitting up a bit. "Stop."

"Leave me alone," he said in a hollow voice. "I need to think."

"This decision was probably hard enough for her to make without you interfering. She didn't tell you about this for a reason."

"I'm not going to talk to her," he said. "I know-" his voice caught in his throat. "I know her well enough to know that once she's set her mind on something convincing her otherwise is practically impossible."

"Then sit down. We'll talk about it."

"I'm going out," he grunted. He didn't want to talk about this. Talking about it wouldn't make Spirit not die. He glanced down the hall, and aw the rest of the group sitting happily around the table. Spirit wasn't visible from this angle, but he knew she was sitting over there. Everyone looked so happy; even Remiel had joined in. But the number of chips in front of everyone, he was losing by a lot, but he was still smiling. And Spiritua was with them, smiling along and pretending like everything was fine. How could she do it when she knew she was going to be dead once they reached their goal?

Rebecca waved at him. "Hey, Ginger! Want to play with us?"

"No." His voice sounded weird to his own ears, like it was far away and happening to someone who hadn't just found out their little sister was going to kill themselves in a couple days. He couldn't deal with this. He climbed up the steep stairs and found the rain pounding down on his face refreshing. At least it gave him something else to concentrate on.

"You're back," Todd said.

Rowan just grunted. He stared at the steering wheel, and then he looked to the horizon. Land wasn't in view yet, but it would be by tomorrow. Spirit was going to die. She was going to _die_. This was so much worse than he had ever imagined. They should never have even come on this stupid trip. He was going to lose her forever.

He stared at the steering wheel again. He couldn't let this happen. He wasn't sure what his plan was, because most of his brain was still shut down and dealing with the shock. In a daze he walked over to Todd and said, "Go below. I can take this."

"Are you sure?" Todd said stepping aside.

"Yeah." They couldn't go to the Tower. If they went to the Tower, Spirit would die and that was not acceptable. He jerked the wheel to the left. He'd take them west, and cut through the narrow strait and then loop around the northern ocean and take them right back to Luin.

"What are you doing?!" Todd stopped on his way to the hatch and turned around. "You're taking us _toward_ the storm.

Rowan barely noticed. He was pretty sure that if they kept going straight in this direction the storm would move south by the time they were far enough west to be affected by, staying on the edges. It was a risky gamble, but he was equal parts confident in his sailing ability and desperate to do anything it took to get Spirit as far away from the Tower of Salvation as possible.

"Rowan, you're taking us in the wrong direction," Todd said.

"I know," Rowan said. "We can't go to the Tower." He barely even noticed the rain now. He was surprised at how calm he was throughout all of this. This wasn't something for him to get fired up and angry about; it was just a cold, steadfast certainty that he could not, under any circumstances, take his sister to the Tower to be killed.

"Why not?!" Todd shouted. Lightning flash and thunder boomed, closer together now than they had been before.

"Because Spirit is going to die," Rowan said, clenching the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. "And I am not going to let that happen. No way."

"Oh," Todd said. "So you found out about that."

Rowan snapped his head to stare at Todd in surprise. "You _knew_?"

Todd shrugged. "Are you really going to stop the Journey of Regeneration?"

"I have to!" Rowan said. The fact that apparently Todd had known about this and never said a word about it started to pull up his anger. "Kratos said it was alright if she backed out. I think maybe Kratos wasn't keen on her dying, either." He turned his eyes back to the horizon. "We're going back to Luin, because there's no way I can let this continue. I'll go on and take you back to Thoda if you need it."

"That won't be necessary."

Rowan gripped the steering wheel and stared at the water ahead, keeping an eye out for any sign that the storm was coming farther east toward them than he'd thought. Remiel would protest, but Remiel wasn't nearly as intimidating as Kratos. Pierce and Shea would also protest, but if it meant saving Spirit's life he could deal with them being angry at him. Rebecca would probably side with him, because she didn't seem to be nearly as enamoured with the whole Chosen thing as Spirit was.

And Spirit… she'd probably never forgive him. This would be like lying about their Dad times a hundred. But he'd rather she hate him and be alive than forgive him in death. It was regrettable, but –

The knife sunk into his side all the way to the hilt.

He gasped. For a split second, the cold metal chilled his insides before the burning agony caught up with his brain. His grip on the steering wheel slackened. He turned his head to see Todd, his face mostly calm but with a slight hint of a smile, his hand wrapped around the hilt of the knife. "T-Todd?"

"Thank Origin you said that," Todd said. He grabbed Rowan's arm opposite the wound and shoved him until his back hit the railing of the boat. The knife was still lodged beneath his ribcage, and the movement had caused it shift and widen the wound. "I was beginning to think I'd never get an excuse to kill you."

Rowan tried to punch him with his right hand, because any movement on the left side of his body caused more agony than he could handle, but Todd easily caught his wrist, twisted, and pinned it against the railing.

"Don't struggle," Todd said, his voice cold and devoid of passion. "I'm trying not to get blood all over the deck."

"Why?" Rowan managed to gasp through the waves of pain. Todd kept a firm grip on the knife, but the movement of the boat sent movement through his arm and through the knife, making it constantly cut deeper into his abdomen.

"Geeze, why _wouldn't_ someone want to kill you? Do you have any idea how annoying you are? How many times you've nearly gotten us killed? You nearly got Pierce killed when you stupidly went after Veris, and I'd be furious at you if I gave a damn about Pierce. The others might as well thank me for getting you out of the way."

Rowan gaped at him. He couldn't think of anything to say, but he gave himself some slack on that because his mind was far more occupied on the knife still sticking into him.

"You're just pathetic," Todd said. "The only thing you've contributed on this whole trip is translating for your stupid, mute sister."

He pulled his knife back a bit just so he could drive it in again. Rowan couldn't hold back his cry of pain, but with the force of the storm he doubted anyone below could hear them.

"Watching you trail after Shea just makes me sick. Don't you understand? She's a half-elf. She deserves far better than a stupid, hateful, inferior being like you." He laughed a bit. "I'm sorry. I realize I'm drawing this out, but you must understand that you have been driving me insane since the day we met. I've been waiting so patiently, never able to let my true feelings show, for the chance to shut you the hell up."

This couldn't be happening. This was just his shock from Spirit's revelation causing a hallucination. It couldn't be – _shit_ that hurt – pain like this was not possible in a hallucination. He could feel every inch of the knife digging into his intestines as blood soaked the side of his shirt. "B-but… you… you saved my life." It was hard to concentrate on speaking when every part of his brain was busy screaming at him that there was a knife in his gut. 

"Yeah," Todd said. "I figured turning you in to the Desians so I could rescue you would be a good way to earn your trust. Worked, didn't it? You ate it up."

"You're a Desian," he grunted at him. Dammit, _dammit_, how could he have slipped under everyone's notice? Surely Kratos at least should have realized something was up!

"Not exactly," Todd said. "I work for Cruxis. Lord Yggdrasill assigned me to join your group and keep tabs on Kratos, but a chance to do this has been my goal for the past couple weeks. I just really _hate_ humans like you. You think you're so smart and competent, but you're just another useless inferior being who belongs in a ranch. Do you _ever_ think before you do anything? Are you always this reckless or is it only when on important, world-saving missions?"

"I…what…?" Now was _not_ the time to try and focus on what Todd was saying. He had to get Todd off of him and the knife out of him so he could get Shea to heal him. He was going to bleed to death if he didn't think fast.

"Well, I'd wish for you to change, but I don't think you'll have time," Todd said. "Don't worry, though, I'll make sure Spirit gets to the Tower."

"Don't you dare," Rowan growled.

"How are you going to stop me from the bottom of the sea?" He jerked the knife out of Rowan's side, twisting the hilt as he did and widening the wound even more. "See ya." He grabbed Rowan's collar, lifted, and threw him over the side.

He hit the water with a splash. The first thing to register in his brain was that if his wound had been burning before, the addition of salty water seeping in turned it into a volcano He instinctively flailed his arms and legs to claw his way back to the surface, every movement exacerbating the wound. He gasped for air, but with the pounding rain he still got water in his mouth.

"Hey!" he shouted. He tried to tread water without moving his left side. It didn't work out too well. "Hel-" he swallowed a mouthful of sea water.

_It can't end like this_. Not drowning. After everything he'd been through, he couldn't _drown_. He had to fight to stay on the surface, even if that fight did hurt like a bitch. He wondered if he was going to bleed to death before he drowned.

"Rowan?"

He thought he was hearing things, but when he heard his name called again he knew it wasn't just the wind. "Hey!" he shouted. His voice was weaker than he had been expecting, and he wondered how much blood he had lost. He saw a silhouette lean of the railing, and in a flash of lightning he saw that it was Shea.

Hey eyes widened when she saw him struggling in the water. "Rowan!"

"Watch – Todd – where is he?!" He couldn't see Todd anywhere, but what if he attacked Shea too? Dammit, why was everything bad happening all at once?!

Shea grabbed the life preserver off the side of the boat and leapt into the water, the rope streaming out behind her. Rowan splashed and flailed to move toward her. She clung to the floatation ring with one arm, and reached for him with the other. His fingers clasped around hers and she pulled him in.

"What the hell happened?!"

"Todd tried to kill me. Can you heal me now?"  
"What? Todd? What?"

"We need to get back to the boat," Rowan said. He clung to the life preserver and let Shea tow him in. Not moving any of his muscles slightly dampened the raging pain in his side, but it by barely enough to notice.

Shea looked up. "Todd!" she shouted. "Pull us up!"

Rowan looked up in alarm, and saw Todd leaning over the railing. A glint of light flashed as he raised his knife, and then the severed rope trailed down into the water. Shea stared.

"Todd?!" she shouted. "What are you doing?!"

"He tried to kill me already! Weren't you listening?!"

Todd raised his hand and waved goodbye, and then walked away.

"What the hell is going on?!"

"_Please_," Rowan panted. "I'm bleeding… ugh…"

Shea snapped to attention. "Oh gosh. Sorry. Where?"

"My side."

Green light glowed around her, illuminating their bodied under water. In the light, the wound on Rowan's side – and the dark clouds of blood swirling away from his body, were painfully clear. Shea grimaced, and then put her hand under water and held it over his wound.

"Cure," she said, and a flash of warm light swept over him.

The pain died down immediately, and Rowan sighed in relief. It throbbed in remembered agony, but he no longer felt like he was seconds away from death. "Thanks." With that taken care of, he had time to think about their next huge problem. Actually, the problem was the boat, and it was getting smaller as it moved away from them. There was no way they'd be able to catch up to it by swimming, especially since Shea wasn't that strong a swimmer herself.

"Shit, Rowan," Shea said quietly. He could barely hear her over the rain. "What are we going to do?"

He was tired and sore, and the boat was getting farther and farther away. Rowan took a deep breath. "We swim."


	36. Adrift

Ok, so this is completely unrelated to the chapter and more like random trivia, but I mentally sorted the main characters into Hogwarts houses! So, if everyone in this story went to Hogwarts, these are the houses they'd be in:

Rowan and Rebecca are Gryffindor. I don't feel like I even need to explain these two.  
Shea is Ravenclaw. Again, I feel like this one is fairly obvious.  
Pierce is in Hufflepuff.  
Spirit and Todd are in Slytherin. Todd's placement shouldn't be surprising, but the reasoning for Spirit is that she is a very driven and ambitious girl - her goal is to save the world, after all. While she cares about life and loves humanity, she really is willing to go to any means to achieve her goal.

Kratos isn't my character so I'm not as confident in his placement. I'm torn between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, leaning towards Hufflepuff. He definitely lacks the brash, reckless streak characteristic to Gryffindor, and I feel that if he had the ambition and desire for greatness to be in Slytherin, he wouldn't have been content to remain at Mithos' side for so many years. That was his whole problem - he didn't like Mithos' plan but didn't really know what else to do about it. The reason I'm leaning towards Hufflepuff more than Ravenclaw is that even though Kratos is intelligent, his seems more like the common sense and knowledge gained through hard work and experience, and less of the witty, creative cleverness of Ravenclaw. Also, loyalty is a defining trait of Hufflepuff, and Kratos remained loyal to Mithos far longer than he should have. So anyway, that's why I think he's Hufflepuff. I'm sure a lot of people disagree because poor Hufflepuff house doesn't have a very good reputation.

Anyway, on with the chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Six: Adrift **

Sunlight streamed through the circular window of the cabin. The storm was finally over, and the rollicking movement of the boat had calmed down. Spirit packed up the deck of cards she'd been playing solitaire with when she heard Rebecca yawn and sit up.

"Morning." Rebecca said, rubbing her eyes. "Have a good night?"

Spirit shrugged. She'd spent the whole night playing cards in the girls' room. It turned out to be just her and Rebecca's room, because Shea hadn't come to bed. Spirit assumed she was off with Rowan somewhere, as always. She heard footsteps in the hall outside as the rest of the group woke up.

Rebecca sat on her bed and brushed her hair. It was nice to think that they'd be in a big city today. After spending so much time travelling through the wilderness, spending the day in Fidalia would be a nice break.

Rebecca had just started braiding her hair when Spirit heard a shout. Footsteps stomped down the hall, and then Pierce shouted Rowan's name. Curious, Spirit opened the door and poked her head out. Remiel stood in the hall, looking around nervously and clenching his hands together. Pierce stood in the common area in front of the table, looking baffled.

"It's not a very large boat," Pierce said. "There aren't any hiding places."

He caught sight of Spirit down the hall, and she held up a pad of paper with a question mark scribbled on it.

"I don't want to alarm you, Spirit," Pierce said, "but Rowan and Shea appear to be missing."

Missing? How could you go missing on a boat? Like Pierce had said, it wasn't a very large boat. There was nowhere to hide, and why would they be hiding anyway? He would have heard Pierce shouting his name, and he wouldn't keep hiding if he knew he others were looking for him.

Worried, she left the room and climbed up to the deck. Todd sat at the steering wheel, and she walked up to him and held up her notepad. _What happened?_

"Oh, hi, Spirit," Todd said. "I came up early this morning because I figured Rowan would need a break and chance to sleep, but I didn't see him up here." He frowned. "There was no one at the controls, so I took over and figured he'd gone to sleep and didn't tell anyone. But now he's nowhere to be seen, and Shea's gone, too."

Pierce, Rebecca, and Remiel climbed up to the deck. "They aren't on the boat," Pierce said. "Unless they've somehow turned themselves both invisible and intangible, I think we're going to have to accept the fact that they're not here."

"The life preserver's missing," Rebecca said, pointing to the empty hook on the side of the boat. She leaned over the railing and stared down at the water. "Do you think they… had an accident?"

Spirit shook her head. How could this be happening? Last night everything was fine, and now Rowan and Shea were missing? It was ridiculous.

"Maybe… one of them fell overboard," Rebecca said. "And the other jumped in with the life preserver, but maybe it wasn't tied tight enough and slipped off…"

They stared at the empty hook, the reality of their situation sinking in. It seemed impossible, but there could be no denying that Rowan and Shea were not on the boat. There was nothing around them for miles by open water, so there wasn't anywhere else that they could be. Spirit quickly wrote on her paper and held it up for everyone to see. _We need to turn back_.

Everyone gave her awkward looks, and then stared at the ground. Rebecca slumped into the bench and buried her face in her hands. Todd sat behind the steering wheel, staring ahead with a stoic expression, making no move to turn back.

Spirit shook her paper and stamped her foot. She wished she could speak because she needed to shout. Why weren't they listening? If Rowan and Shea had fallen overboard, they needed to turn back and pick them up!

"Spirit," Pierce said, "I don't think that will help."

Of course it would help! Rowan and Shea were in trouble, and she couldn't believe that the others weren't immediately jumping to action.

"We have no idea how long ago they went missing," Pierce said slowly. "With the storm and the current, we have no idea how far they've drifted away from us, assuming they're…"

He trailed off, but Spiritua knew what he had been about to say. _Assuming they're still alive_. They could have drowned by now. But wasn't the risk of drowning more of a reason why they needed to turn back and look for them?

"I'm sorry, Spirit," Pierce said. "I don't think finding them is going to be possible. It just isn't feasible to try and find two small people somewhere in this vast ocean."

She stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing. _Don't you dare say it_, she thought.

"I'm afraid that we're going to have to assume that they're… gone."

'Gone' was obviously a last-second substitute for 'dead.' Spiritua wasn't buying it. They had to still be alive. Rowan was a strong swimmer, and they had the life preserver, so there was still a chance…

She pulled out her wings. If the others weren't willing to turn the boat around, then she'd just find them herself. She started to take off, but before she got very far, Pierce grabbed her ankle.

"Spiritua, sit down!" he shouted.

She was so shocked by the furious edge to his voice that her wings vanished and she dropped to the ground.

"What exactly is your plan?" Pierce asked. "Are you just going to fly around, hoping to see them? What will you do when you grow tired and need to land? What will you do if you do find them, and need to carry two people in your tired state? How can you expect to find them when you have countless miles of open water to search?"

The reality of their situation weighed down on her. Of course Pierce was right. Her chance of finding Rowan and Shea drifting in the ocean, still alive, were so small she didn't know if anyone had invented a fraction small enough to convey it. There wasn't a way to bring them back. They were gone. Just _gone_. Everything had been going fine and then in an instant the people she cared about were snatched away forever. It was just like when Dad died, or when she found out she'd never get to go home and see her mother again, or when Kratos had abruptly returned to Welgaia. She had even lost the fake people from the future that would never be. Now she'd lost Rowan and Shea too, and she didn't know how much more of this she could take.

She pressed her face against Pierce's chest. Why did people keep leaving? She was the one who had to die; she was supposed to leave _them_. Pierce hugged her back, but it didn't do much to sooth her. She'd written that letter to Rowan, but she doubted he even found it, let alone read it, so he probably had no idea that she wasn't still angry at him about their dad. She wanted to curl up into a ball and go back in time to when Kratos first showed up to tell her she was the Chosen. _"You need to pick someone else,"_ she would say this time.

She took a few deep, ragged breaths, and then pushed herself up from Pierce's embrace. She couldn't let herself fall apart like this. She was the Chosen, and she needed to regenerate the world. Maybe it was a good thing that everyone she loved kept disappearing. If she didn't have anyone left she cared about, it wouldn't be so hard to leave this world.

* * *

Lloyd, Genis, and Colette lay on one of the narrow twin beds in the hotel room. There wasn't much room for all three of them, and Genis was a bit squished between them, but they made it work. The three old friends were just happy to be together again. They hadn't been apart for that long, but it had been much longer than they'd ever been separated before.

The hotel room was quiet, for the most part. Kratos talking was the only noise, as the whole group was content just to sit and relax. The calm stillness was broken by a knock at the door. Presea, sitting closest to the door, rose to answer it. As soon as the newcomer revealed themselves, the entire room burst into noise.

"Raine!" Genis shouted, leaping from the bed.

"You're ok!" Sheena shouted, bolting upright from her slumped position in an armchair.

"Professor Sage!" Lloyd said, following Genis toward her.

Raine smiled and tried to fend everyone off as a massive group hug was initiated around her. Only Regal, Presea, and Kratos stayed out of it, although Zelos seemed to have ulterior motives when he circled around the group to join the hug behind Sheena.

"Everyone, calm down," she said. "Yes, I'm alright, thanks to you. I can't thank you enough for your help."

"Of course we helped," Sheena said. "You're our friend."

"Yeah," Lloyd said. "We'd do anything to help you."

"So they just let you out?" Genis said.

Raine nodded. "They said they had found the true culprit and that I was free to go."

The group dispersed, returning to their former positions. Raine sat down at the foot of the bed. "So what are you going to do now, Raine?" Sheena asked.

"The same thing we were doing before," she said. She glanced at her brother and said, "Genis and I will continue our journey to spread half-elf awareness. This experience only proves more than ever how important it is."

"The rest of us," Kratos said, "can continue our own journeys."

"I have matters to attend to back in Altamira," Regal said. "We should leave tomorrow and head back to our own business."

Lloyd looked down at the bedspread. Now that Raine was taken care of, they were back to Kratos' imminent departure. He was glad that Raine was safe, but now that she was no longer in trouble, he couldn't deny that he'd kind of enjoyed it, in a way. It was nice to have the whole group back together and on another adventure. He'd gotten so used to saving the world that after it was saved, life had seemed rather dull.

"Not until tomorrow, at least," Zelos said. "I don't know about you guys, but there's no way I'm travelling any more tonight."

Regal nodded. "We can depart tomorrow morning."

"Oh, Professor," Colette said, "we need to fill you in on the story Kratos has been telling! It's about Spiritua and it's very exciting."

"It might take a while to summarize every event so far," Kratos said.

"We'll give you the key points," Lloyd said, "and then Dad can continue where we left off."

* * *

Rowan never thought that he would get tired of looking out at the ocean, but now he was sick of it. As far as the eye could see there was nothing but water. This morning was a slight improvement on the night, because now that the rain had stopped there was no longer water when he looked up. The most infuriating part was that amid all this endless water, he couldn't drink a single thing.

Shea slowly cracked her eyes open. Her face wasn't very far away from his, since they were clinging to the same life preserver. They'd tied the rope around their waists to make sure they didn't get separated, but so far they'd managed to keep their arms locked to the floating ring. Rowan's arms were stiff and his fingers numb from doing this, but it was better than drifting without a floatation device.

"Are we actually still alive?" Shea asked, looking around. "Or is heaven just really, really blue?"

"Too sore to be dead," Rowan said. It was the first time he'd talked in hours, and his throat was parched, making his voice dry and crackly. Shea had fallen asleep sometime in the night, but Rowan had been up all night, thinking.

Shea shifted her weight , sending Rowan's elbow into the water. He was too tired to get frustrated at her. "If we survive this," she said, "you're never allowed to make fun of my hatred for the ocean again."

"I think I'm going to join you in that hatred," Rowan said. "I suppose we should be thankful I know how to swim."

"Why wouldn't you?" Shea asked.

He shrugged. "A lot of sailors don't."

She looked at him in confusion. "Sailors don't know how to swim? Isn't that like being a chef who has no idea what to do if something catches fire?"

"No," Rowan said, "it's because a lot of sailors figure that knowing how to swim will only prolong the inevitable, and they'd rather drown right away than tread water for hours, since survival is…uh…" he trailed off when he realized that this probably wouldn't help.

"I don't know if you were trying to give me encouragement, but if so, you suck at it."

Rowan licked his lips. They were dry and cracked from the salt. Dehydration would probably kill them faster than drowning would, but he didn't mention that. He rested his chin on his arms. He'd been running everything that had happened through his head all night, and he felt the need to say, "I'm sorry, Shea. This is my fault." She was going to die out here because of him. He would have kicked himself if he could get a strong enough kick going underwater.

"I'd say it was Todd's fault," she said. "Since he's the one he stabbed you. Geeze, I still can't believe he did that. He always seemed so nice."

"Tell me about it," Rowan grumbled. "He should win an award for acting ability. The award is a fist to the face."

"What happened, anyway?" Shea asked. "Why did he suddenly stab you?"

Rowan looked away, knowing Shea would disapprove of this. "I – I tried to turn the ship around. So that we wouldn't go to the Tower and Spirit would die." He winced, knowing what to expect and also knowing that he deserved it.

"Rowan!" Shea shouted in exasperation. "I _told_ you to stay out of it!"

"I know!" he shouted back. "I know it was stupid, ok? I wasn't thinking straight. I just – I just didn't want to lose her."

Shea's expression softened. "You can't run her life forever."

"I know," he mumbled. "But, the thing is, when Dad died, he told me to take care of her. So, I did. I practically defined myself around my ability to stand in for Dad and be the man of the house and look after her and my mom. So then… if she doesn't need me anymore… or if she dies and isn't even here anymore… then who am I?"

Shea reached out and rested a hand on his arm. "You're you. There's more to you than just being someone's brother."

"I don't know how to be." He buried his head into his arms. "I want to punch my younger self for setting me up with all these stupid ideas and instincts. I _know_ that Spirit is a strong and capable young woman, but I can't seem to make myself see her like that. Just like I _know_ that Todd is awful because he's a traitorous, lying, backstabbing piece of shit, but I can't stop these thoughts that keep telling me that it's because he's a half-elf. And I know that that's bullshit and that it's cutting Todd slack to blame what he did on his race and not on his awful personal decisions, but I can't make these thoughts stop. But I really want to, because I want to stop wasting my time hating people who have never done anything to me when I want to save it all up for the people I _really_ hate. I want to let Spirit make her own decisions. I want to be the guy you deserve without these awful racist thoughts getting in the way. I want to be a better person, but I can't because my stupid subconscious is even more pigheaded and stubborn than I am!"

He sank deeper into the water, with only his head and arms still above the surface. "I'm sorry," he said. "This is all my fault. Todd never would have attacked me if I hadn't tried to turn the ship around and I dragged you into this. I'm such an idiot. Todd was right; everyone's probably better off if I just drown."

"What are you doing?" Shea snapped. "Are you just giving up?"

He didn't answer.

"I've never seen you quit _anything_."

And look where that had gotten him. His stubborn refusal to accept that Spiritua needed to complete this journey and he had to stop babying her and gotten them both thrown overboard.

"Stop it, Rowan." Her voice was hoarse, with a bit of an edge to it that wasn't just the dehydration. "You're scaring me."

When he kept his head down and still didn't answer, she shouted, "Would you pull yourself together, you stupid bastard?!"

He raised his head a bit, surprised at her sudden fury.

"Ok, I get it, you screwed up. I'm not going to lie and say you didn't. We all do stupid things and make stupid decisions, and maybe you did more than most. So what are you going to do about it? Are you going to roll over and drown? That isn't going to fix the things you effed up! If you're as messed up as you claim, then you don't deserve to take the easy way out. You've got to live so you can fix things!"

Rowan empathized with the sailors who didn't want to know how to swim. It made things easier. If their ship went down, someone who couldn't swim didn't have to decide whether it was worth trying to swim for shore. They didn't have to struggle to survive and tread water for hours until their muscles burned and they were delirious with thirst. Not many of the swimmers survived, either, and they had a much harder time of it than those who immediately gave themselves to the depths.

It would be so _easy_ to stop fighting the water and let it swallow him up so that he wouldn't have to deal with the things he'd done or the struggle to survive out here. The thing was, the sailors who chose not to swim were the cowards. They weren't brave enough to face the harsh price of living, and they ran from it right to their watery graves. Not everyone who swam would reach the shore again, but the ones who did were stronger for it.

He pulled himself out of the water, his muscles shaking with exertion. He pulled himself up until his whole chest was out of the water, and he leaned on the ring with water dripping all around him, taking deep breaths.

"Rowan?" Shea said.

He looked up at the sky, and saw a bird flying overheard. He followed its path with his eyes, and then pointed in the direction it had come from. "Land is that way."

"How-?"

"Birds fly out to sea in the morning, and back to shore in the evening."

"And you're going to make it to shore with me, right?" Shea asked.

He turned his eyes back to her. "Yeah. We'll make it there together. And then… then I'm going to make up for everything. I have to make it back so I can tell Spirit I support her decision, and I need to tell Pierce that I'm sorry I almost got him killed, and I really need to punch Todd in the face. I did once before, but it was for a stupid reason so I need to make this one count."

Shea smiled. "That's right. We're going to live, dammit. I'm not dying out here when I've still got so much work to do."

Rowan nodded firmly. Then he said, "Will you help me? I know I don't really deserve it, but… I want to be a better person, and I think you're the best person I know."

She smiled. Rowan tried to smile back, but his lips were so cracked it was somewhat painful. "Yeah," Shea said. "We're going to get through this. Together." She leaned across the life preserver, and then kissed him on the cheek.

Rowan stared at her in shock. "Shea… what?" He might have blushed, if his cheeks weren't already red from sunburn.

"I didn't think you'd have a problem with that."

"I, uh, I don't," he said. "But I didn't think – I just said that I'm still trying not to be a huge racist asshole to you."

"Right," Shea said. "You're trying, and I can tell. And like I said, I've never known you to give up on something."

"I won't let you down," Rowan said, unable to keep a grin off his face.

"Good. So, do you mind if I kiss you again?"

"I definitely have no problems with that."

* * *

Kratos sat on the floor by the warp, looking out at the stars beyond Welgaia. Welgaia was quiet and lonely at times, but you couldn't beat the view. Noishe flew in circles around the huge room, although he seemed to miss the fresh air.

"Ouch!" Yuan shouted, jerking his arm back from the warp and dropping his wrench with a clatter.

"Are you alright?" Kratos asked.

Yuan shook his hand and scowled. "Fine," he grumbled. "Only a little bit electrocuted."

"Not actually electrocuted," Kratos said. "Electrocute specifically means to cause death by electricity. Since you're still alive, it's reasonable to assume you meant you were shocked."

Yuan glared at him, rubbing his hand. "Keep that up and you'll be electrocuted next."

"What are you doing, anyway?"

Yuan picked up his wrench and said, "I'm trying to work out where to put an alternate power source for the warps, so that we can have them out in the world and not just in the Tower."

"An alternate power source?" Kratos asked.

"Yeah. You remember how the warp works, right?"

Kratos stared at him. He was quite sure he remembered Yuan explaining the technology to him one time, but he was also quite sure that it had been less of an explanation and more of a one-side rant about how excited he was to have worked out all the kinks. In any case, Kratos had less of an idea of how warps worked than an ant had of astro-physics. He took a shot in the dark and said, "Because… mana?"

Yuan nodded. "Right. The Tower of Salvation is held together by boatloads of mana, which makes running machinery here a lot easier, because it's like a giant battery. I got the computers to run on external electricity in the ranches, though, so I think if I figure out a way to charge the mechanism in a warp, I can get them to run outside the Tower, too. It's just more difficult because they take a lot more power than a simple computer."

Kratos nodded along as he always did whenever Yuan talked about his electronics. When he was pretty sure Yuan was done, he said, "More importantly, you do know how to put that back together, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Yuan said.

"We're going to need it to send the Tethe'allan Chosen back."

"Don't worry," Yuan said, staring at a few wires with a concentrated expression.

"I suppose Remiel is going to need it to come home, too," Kratos said. He had been a bit surprised to learn that Remiel lived in a different area of Welgaia. He hadn't known anyone else sentient was up here other than Yuan, Mithos, and him. Of course, he wasn't about to go find the man and have a cup of tea with him, but it was interesting to know he was here. "Did you know about Remiel?"

"Nope," Yuan said. "I think Mithos found him fairly recently." He looked up from the warm and said, "That's got to sting, huh? Getting replace by a newbie?"

"Hm," Kratos said. "What I've been dwelling on the most is the question of how Mithos knew that I was no longer keen on finishing the journey." The only person he had talked to about that was Yuan, and he knew Yuan would never go behind his back like that.

"Wait, you mean Mithos didn't tell you?" Yuan looked up.

Kratos narrowed his eyes. "Tell me what?"

"He mentioned it to me after you got back. I thought he told you. He had a spy planted in your group."

This took Kratos by surprise. A spy, huh? That explained how Mithos had known. Everyone in their group would have overheard Spiritua shouting to Rowan that Kratos had offered to abandon the quest. Which one of them had it been? He quickly ran through the companions. Not Shea, who had joined them by their own request; not Pierce, who wouldn't have come at all if they hadn't already requested Shea. He doubted it was Rowan, because no one trying to be subtle would be that aggravatingly annoying, and besides, he'd joined before Mithos had any reason to doubt Kratos' goals. Certainly not Spiritua or Rebecca. "Todd," he said.

Yuan nodded.

Kratos swore. Of course he'd been a mole; no wonder he'd been so keen to join them.

"That's not all," Yuan said. "After Mithos told me, I did some research on the kid. He's a real piece of work. A few years back, humans killed his family. Coincidentally, every member of the group responsible died in horrific accidents over the next few months. A whole family burned to death when their house spontaneously caught fire and they couldn't get the door to open, and one of them apparently hung himself, but who knows how voluntary that 'suicide' was. The three leaders of the attack went on a hunting trip a few months later, and their bodies were found a week later hacked to pieces and burned to a crisp."

Yuan had abandoned any attempt to keep working while recounting this story. "Nothing was ever proven, of course. He was just a kid then, so the idea that they were in such danger from a small, inferior being of a child never even crossed their minds. I don't think it's a coincidence, though." Kratos nodded. If his present day personality was anything to go by, he was excellent at acting non-threatening.

Yuan gave Kratos an apologetic look and added, "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I thought you knew."

"And Mithos just left this guy with only Remiel to watch over the group?" Kratos rested his face in his hand. "Is there any guarantee that he hasn't murdered them all in their sleep by now?"

"Well… I don't think he'd harm Spiritua or Rebecca," Yuan said. "And I think he mostly hates humans, so that half-elf girl in your group is probably safe."

"Great," Kratos said. "Just great. How soon can you get that warp working again?"

Yuan looked down at the mess of wires. "Uh… maybe an hour or so. Why? Mithos isn't going to be happy if you go back to Sylvarant during this."

"Then I suppose you had better not tell Mithos I'm going anywhere."

* * *

Fidalia was a walled city, with the spire of the temple jutting up from the centre. The harbour was filled with boats and crowds of people pushed and shoved their way around the docks. It was the biggest city in Sylvarant after Carski had fallen at the end of the war, and Spirit was excited to see it in person. She was less excited to see that there was a rather long line to get through the gates at the edge of the dock and into the city proper.

"We have to stand in line just to get into their stupid city?" Rebecca said. They'd docked _Dorothy_ and were intending to find a nice inn to spend the night at before hiking north to the Tower. The long line of people would take at least an hour to get through.

"This is incredibly inconvenient," Remiel said.

"They've probably got a lot of immigrants," Pierce said. "Anyone who can afford the trip here is probably hoping for a better life in the big city."

"A _godless_ life," Remiel said, fluttering his wings indignantly. "The temple up ahead is in honour of Origin, not Martel. There are temples for Summon Spirits all over this city."

"We could always skip the line," Todd said. "The wall isn't too high, and two members of our group can fly."

"Oh, I like that plan," Rebecca said.

Pierce frowned. "That's rather a breach of security…"

"Maybe we can use it as an opportunity to teach them how to defend against people with wings?" Rebecca said.

"Now that's ridiculous," Remiel said. "The only people with wings are the angels of Cruxis, and why would anyone need to fight them?"

Spiritua held up her paper. _Let's fly over._ She didn't feel like wasting her time standing in line. It probably wasn't even a proper line, just the fact that there were a lot of people trying to get through a single small gate.

Pierce seemed unhappy but reluctantly agreed. They made sure they found a patch of wall far from the gate, blocked from view by a stack of crates. Spirit carried Rebecca and Remiel carried Pierce, and then Remiel went back for Todd. On the other side of the wall was an alley, but there was a busy street ahead of them.

"Wow," Rebecca said. "It's been a while since I was in a city like this."

Spirit held up her paper. _Is Meltokio like this?_

Rebecca nodded. "Yeah, but it's even bigger. There's a huge castle in the middle where the royal family lives."

Spiritua nodded and smiled. Meltokio sounded like a beautiful city, and she wished she'd have a chance to see it one day.

When Remiel and Todd arrived, they walked to the edge of the alley and found themselves on a busy main street. "Alright, everyone," Remiel said, clasping his hands together, "we're going to spend the night in the city, so we don't have anything to do for the rest of the afternoon."

"There are some supplies we should stock up on, just in case we run into trouble on the way to the Tower," Pierce said.

"Like what?" Rebecca asked.

With his face as straight as he could manage, he said, "Gels. We need to stock up, because… we don't have a healer."

Spirit looked at the ground. Every time she let herself think about Rowan and Shea, despair threatened to rise up and overwhelm her.

Rebecca was the first to force the conversation to move forward. "Alright. We'll do that first and then explore the city a bit later. That good with everyone?"

"I think I'm just going to grab a bite to eat at the inn and wait for you guys here," Todd said. "I'm kind of tired."

"Alright," Pierce said, "then we shall see you here this evening."

* * *

"What time is it?"

Rowan looked up at the sun. "After noon," he croaked.

They clung to the life preserver, all energy drained. They'd aimed themselves at what they thought was the direction of shore and tried swimming that way, but it didn't seem like they made much progress. They were lucky the water was fairly warm, so they weren't worried about hypothermia. It would probably get cold once the sun went down, but the burning sun had done such a fine job of turning his face bright red that he welcomed the idea of sunset. He saw a large cloud on the horizon. Clouds like that formed over land. He was pretty sure that was the direction they'd tried swimming in earlier, but he couldn't be sure.

"Can you do any water magic?" Rowan asked.

Shea raised her head a bit. "No. Why?"

"'Cause you could summon water and then we could drink."

"Oh. Sorry. I only know healing magic."

"Let's swim for a bit," Rowan said.

"I'm so tired." Shea didn't even lift her head from her arms.

"We're only going to get more tired. Come on, we need to try and push ourselves to shore before we're too exhausted to move."

Shea took a deep breath, and then shifted her position so that she was on the same side as Rowan. Together, they kicked their legs and moved forward. It felt like his legs were made of lead. Every kick was exhausting, but he kept his eyes on the cloud and told himself that the next kick would bring them in view of land.

_Any time now_, he kept saying. _Land will come into view. Next kick. Next kick._ They could do this, because he wasn't going to die out here.

Twenty minutes later, they had to give up and rest. Rowan's stomach growled, and he was acutely aware that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday evening. He hadn't had anything to drink in that long, either. How long could you go without water? Three days? It simply wasn't fair that he could be this thirsty and this wet at the same time.

"Hey, Shea?" he said.

She raised her head a bit and grunted.

"I was thinking. Kratos said that after Spirit regenerates the world, I'll be a famous important Chosen heir or something." He shifted his weight and tried to get more comfortable, but that was a fruitless effort. "I thought, maybe if I become rich like Rebecca is, then I could give it to you."

Shea frowned. "What? I don't want to take your money, Rowan."

Rowan shook his head. "No, not just for you. For your doctor's practice. You always had to steal to fund it right? Well, I could give you the money I get for the Chosen thing and you can use that to take care of sick people." He rested his chin on his hands. "Think of it like… a charity hospital funded by the Chosen." He smiled, a motion which hurt his chapped lips. "I think she'd like that."

Shea smiled too. "You're right. I think she would."

He saw anther bird in the sky. It was flying toward them, but at this time of day, birds would be flying in all directions to catch fish so it didn't necessarily mean land was close. It was still pretty far away, regardless. Or, wait, it was close, it was just very small. It was much smaller than a typical seabird.

The bird made a beeline for them, fluttering to a stop and then perching on the edge of the life preserver. It was a small canary with white and green feathers, and it cocked its head to the side and stared at them with intelligent eyes. Rowan grinned, and a flicker of hope sparked to life.


	37. Fidalia

**Chapter Thirty-Seven: Fidalia **

Spiritua, Rebecca, and Remiel sat on the edge of a fountain. Pierce was busy haggling over the price of a new water canteen.

"It's a pretty city," Rebecca said.

Spiritua nodded.

"I wonder how many statues there are?" Behind them, a marble statue of Undine stood in the middle of the fountain, water spraying pouring from her upraised hands. "We should count."

"All of them?" Remiel said, looking at her in surprise. "That would be quite a lot."

Spiritua couldn't bring herself to dislike Remiel. She was mad that he replaced Kratos, but he was so earnest and friendly she couldn't help but like him. She hoped he achieved his goal of becoming one of the Four Seraphim someday. She wasn't entirely sure what the Four Seraphim were, but they seemed to be the top ranking members of Cruxis. If so, it was pretty impressive that Kratos was one of them. She assumed that Yuan and Lord Yggdrasill were also members, but she had no idea who the fourth could be.

They were interrupted from their conversation by a pair of city guards, who wandered over and gave Remiel odd looks. "Good afternoon, sir," one of them said to Remiel. "That's a nice pair of wings you've got there."

"Oh, thank you," Remiel said. His feathery wings fluttered a bit.

"How the hell do they stay on?" the other guards said, cocking his head to the side.

The first guard asked, "Is it some Sylph thing?"

"Sylph?" Remiel said, aghast. "Heavens, no! I am a servant of Martel."

Spiritua could pinpoint the exact moment that the guards' curiosity turned to annoyance. "Is that so?" one of them asked. "You spend your time praying to some benevolent sky mommy who's never done a single thing to make herself known?"

Remiel crossed his arms indignantly. "Martel is going to save the world, just you wait. When the world gets regenerated, you won't have Origin to thank for it."

Antagonizing the guards was probably a bad idea, but Spirit was in no position to speak up and tell Remiel to back down. She hoped Rebecca would do so, but she seemed to go along with Remiel.

"Martel doesn't need to show off," Rebecca said. "She doesn't need to create big displays of elemental power to convince people to worship her."

"Oh, great," one guard said. "I didn't know we allowed religious nuts into the city. Especially not ones who glue bird wings to their backs to show their devotion to a fake goddess. How is that supposed to convince people your religion is rational?"

"These are not dead bird wings!" Remiel said, fluttering his wings in agitation. "They were a holy gift bestowed upon me by the goddess!"

"Uh-huh," the guard said. "Sure. How the hell did these nutters get past the gate? Let me see your papers."

Rebecca hesitated. "Our… papers?"

"Yeah," the guard said. "I want to know which guard it was the approved your entry to our city."

"Um…" Remiel and Rebecca exchanged nervous looks.

The guard raised his eyebrows. "You _do_ have entry papers, correct?"

"Excuse me," Pierce said, striding toward them. Spirit felt a bit of relief as he came to sort out the problem. She trusted him to deal with this a lot more professionally than Remiel or Rebecca. "Is there are problem here?"

"Are these your companions?" the guard asked him, gesturing to the other three on the fountain.

Pierce nodded. "They are. What seems to be the problem?"

"Judging by your uniform, you're from Cleopolica, yeah?"

"Correct. I'm Captain Asgard of the City Militia. I believe I've been in correspondence with your commander in the past."

"We aren't trying to cause any trouble for you, Captain," the guard said. "Just a friendly religious debate. We were curious about the entry paper issue, though. Your companions seemed hesitant about the subject."

Pierce's confidence slipped slightly. "Entry papers. Ah. I see."

"I take it you are in possession of them for your party?"

Pierce didn't know what to say. Spirit could tell it was killing him to try and think of a way to lie to the guards. "I… yes…"

The other guard gave him a suspicious look. "May we see them?"

"They're not… on me… as such… um…"

The guards exchanged looks. "Let me guess. What you mean is that you do not, in fact, have papers allowing your entry to this city as foreigners."

Pierce's face fell. "…No."

Spirit was beginning to see why he had done so poorly at poker the other night.

"I see," the guard said. "Well, Captain, I'm going to need you and your companions to come with me. You're under arrest for illegal immigration."

"You can't do that!" Rebecca said, jumping to her feet.

Spirit looked around. There were other city guards in the area, watching them with curiosity. If they tried to fight back, they'd quickly be outnumbered.

"Calm down," Pierce said. "We'll get this sorted out."

"No, you don't understand," Remiel said, holding up his hands. "We're on an important mission for the sake of Martel!"

"Sure you are, bird-boy," the guard said. "Unless your sky mommy can conjure up some passports, you might want to reconsider that devotion."

* * *

Kratos soared over the ocean, trying to spot their boat. He had tried to estimate where they would be in their journey, and figured they should be somewhere off the coast of the peninsula. From this height, it shouldn't be too hard to see a ship on the vast expanse of flat water.

Noishe flew toward him. They'd split up over the ocean to cover more territory, and by Noishe's excited chirps, he'd found something. Kratos didn't see the boat anywhere, though. He paused, and hovered in the air. Noishe landed on his hand, and he said, "What is it, Noishe?"

Noishe ruffled his feather and flapped his wings. He had certainly found something.

"Show me."

Noishe took off toward the water, with Kratos in pursuit. Kratos scanned the water, wondering what Noishe had found. He spotted some driftwood or something, and wondered if that was what Noishe was so excited about. Wait a second… he looked closer, and with a jolt he realized that the shape in the water wasn't driftwood at all.

He descended upon Rowan and Shea, and hovered with his feet just above the water. They looked up at him with exhausted faces, and Shea was the first to speak.

"So what kind of time do you call this, then?"

"What happened?" he asked.

Rowan grumbled, "Todd tried to kill us."

Of course. He knew he had been right to head back to Sylvarant. "Hand me the rope," Kratos said. "I'll tow you to shore."

It took at least twenty minutes to reach the beach, and when they did, Rowan and Shea collapsed into the sand. Kratos fished around in his bag and pulled out a few Apple Gels. "Here," he said, passing them along.

They ate them gratefully, and they looked at least a bit healthier once the gels kicked in. Still, they made no movement to get up from the warm, dry sand for at least another fifteen minutes. As they rested, Kratos ran everything over in his head. Spirit and the others were probably with the boat farther ahead. Perhaps they'd already docked by now. They would probably have gone to Fidalia to spend the night. He glanced up at the sun. If they started walking now, they could probably reach the city by nightfall and find the others. There was probably nothing to worry about, but he just wasn't comfortable leaving the Chosens alone with Todd.

After a while, Shea felt rested enough to sit up and summon healing magic. She placed her hands on her own chest and then said, "Heal." Green light flashed around her, and she looked visibly more rested when he arms fell. She then did the same for Rowan.

"Are you both alright now?" Kratos asked.

Shea nodded. "Thanks to you. Why did you come back?"

"I heard that Todd was a sociopathic murderer. I was concerned."

"'Concerned,'" Shea said. "Well, at least you weren't losing sleep over the possibility of us being brutally murdered."

"Are you fit to walk to Fidalia?" Kratos asked, ignoring her comment.

"Yes," Shea said. She glanced at Rowan and said, "You're ok, right?"

He nodded, but didn't say anything and didn't meet Kratos' eyes.

"Then let's get going."

They headed up the beach and took off in the direction of Fidalia. As they started walking, Kratos said, "Shea, I have been meaning to ask you about healing magic. Is the ability to heal the same as the ability to cast other types of magic?" A long time ago, when someone in their group got injured, Martel had always jumped in to cast First Aid. Now that she was gone, Kratos was beginning to think that it might be useful to learn healing magic himself. At the very least, Yuan would be grateful when he inevitably shocked himself again.

"Not really," Shea said. "It's a different mentality, like… from what I've learned, when you're casting something like Fireball, you summon up the mana and try to make it powerful and deadly. Healing is the opposite; you have to think about it in a different way and focus on positive energy rather than destructive. If you can do one type of magic, you should also be able to do the other. It's just more difficult to switch between the different mind sets, so most people specialize in one or the other."

Kratos nodded. This made far more sense to him than Yuan's explanations about electricity. "I see," he said. "Thank you." It shouldn't be too difficult. He wasn't terribly comfortable with magic in general, so it wasn't like he was already dead-set in one mode of thinking. He made a mental note to practice magic once he got back to Welgaia.

* * *

They were almost ready to go. Lloyd's bag was all packed, and they were just waiting on Genis to find his missing socks. Lloyd wished Genis could accompany him and Colette to the Tower, but he understood that Genis and Raine had important work to do. Still, he'd miss his friend.

"Are you sure they were over here?" Raine asked as Genis crawled under the bed.

"Yes," he said.

"Just buy new socks," Zelos said, leaning against the wall by the door.

There was a knock on the door. More accurately, the door practically imploded from the sudden furious pounding on its other side. Zelos jumped at the sudden commotion, and Sheena opened the door.

She started to say, "Who-" when she was shoved aside by an angry blue-haired man forcing himself into the room, sword drawn.

In an instant, the group was armed. They'd gone through far too many near-death experiences to not be ready with their weapons and the merest suggestion of danger.

Kratos took the lead. "What are you doing?" he demanded of the man.

Lloyd recognized him as Decus, the companion of the half-elf from the night before.

"You monsters!" he shouted at them. "This is all your fault!"

"What is our fault?" Sheena asked, rubbing her elbow. She'd banged it on the wall when Decus shoved her aside.

"Alice has been arrested and it's all because of you! You'll pay for what you did!"

"Whoa, what?" Lloyd said, lowering his swords slightly. "Why was Alice arrested?"

"A group of police came to our hotel room and arrested her for starting the riot! It's all because of you!"

"Oh, no," Raine said, covering her mouth. "They just exchanged one-half scapegoat for another."

"Dammit!" Lloyd said. "We just can't win, can we?"

Kratos sighed. "You're going to insist we free this girl as well, aren't you?"

"Of course," Lloyd said. "Alice is totally innocent! We can't let her get locked for this."

Colette looked to Decus. "Please calm down, Mr. Decus. We don't want Alice to be in trouble, either. We'll help get her out."

Decus lowered his sword and the anger left his face a bit. "Really? You'll help me?"

Kratos rolled his eyes. "I suppose we won't be leaving today, after all."

* * *

The sun was already dipping below the horizon by the time they reached Fidalia. There weren't many people trying to get into the city at this time of day, so they only had to stand in line behind a couple farmers before reaching the gate themselves.

The guard at the gate looked them over and said, "Are you citizens of Fidalia?"

"We are not," Kratos said.

The guard sighed, obviously not keen on doing any actual paperwork at this time in the evening. But, Fidalia hadn't become a powerful city by slacking on security, so he pulled out a booklet. "Alright, names, place of residence, and reason for visiting, please."

"Kratos Aurion," he said. He hesitated when it came to place of residence. Welgaia was unheard of, and while Meltokio was his hometown, that would only garner more odd looks. So instead he said, "From Luin."

"I'm also from Luin," Rowan said. "Rowan Praetor."

"Shea Selket, from Cleopolica."

The guard raised his eyebrow. "Cleopolica? You look like you're from Triet."

Shea rolled her eyes. "People who are ethnically Trietan do not, in fact, burst into flames if we move to different cities."

The guard looked like he was going to say something, but then apparently decided that he wasn't paid enough to debate this so close to the end of his shift. "And what is your purpose for visiting the city?"

"We're here to visit friends," Kratos said. It was technically true.

"What's the point of asking?" Rowan said. "I mean, who are you trying to keep out?"

"Weirdoes and lunatics, mostly," the guard said, scribbling on his paper. "Well, they _say_ we're keeping out Desians, but come on, it's not like I'm gonna ask someone what their purpose is here and they're going to say 'I'm a half-elf bent on undermining the stability of the city to allow a Desian takeover.'" He shook his head. "Pointless. I should have listened to my mom and become a florist."

"Uh…" Rowan said. "Sounds like you had a rough day."

"Well, it's just, there was this weirdo with feathers glued to his back or something and all the higher-ups are cracking down on the gate guards over who let him sneak in. It wasn't me, that's for sure, but even if it was, can you blame me? I've been on duty all day and it's just endless tourists day in and day out and nobody ever thinks that maybe I need a chair over here. And then today I've had my supervisor breathing down my neck and haven't even had a coffee break, do you know what I mean?"

"That's… that's rough, buddy," Rowan said.

Kratos, though, said, "Excuse me, what were you saying about a man with feathers glued on his back?"

The guard waved his hand dismissively. "I don't even know. I guess some guy at another gate must have let some weirdoes in without papers and one of them is going around claiming to be an angel of Martel or some crap. They were already arrested though, so I don't know what my supervisor wants _me_ to do about it." He ripped three sheets of paper out of his book and handed them over. "Here you go. Enjoy your visit."

"Thank you," Kratos said.

As soon as they were through the gate and out of earshot, Shea said, "Our group just can't go anywhere without getting into trouble, can we?" She sighed. "I guess we had better head to the police station."

They followed the main road through town. As they walked, Kratos considered the fact that Rowan had barely said a word since he'd found them. It was eerie, like he had suddenly decided to take after his sister and never speak an unnecessary word.

The streets of Fidalia were lit with gas lamps, which cast a soft glow across the cobblestones. The police station was prominently location on Main Street, with more gas lamps illuminating the stone steps leading to the front door. Behind it was a larger building that dwarfed the one-story police office. A now-empty shop with boarded-up windows was nestled between the station and a temple to Efreet. The temple drew most attention on the street, because it was lit up like a firework. Burning torches lined the steps and a massive bowl of fire decorated the entrance.

They walked into the police station and Kratos approached the desk. "Excuse me," he said, "I was made aware that companions of ours have been arrested for illegal immigration. Is there anything I can do to ensure their prompt release?"

The woman behind the desk stared at him with mild irritation. "Oh. So you're with those Martel freaks, then? The two girls and two men?"

"That is correct." Two men? No mention of Todd, then. He must have not been with them at the time. The thought of Todd alone and free in the city did little to comfort him, though.

"Well, there's nothing you can do. Entering our city illegally is a serious crime here. They'll be transferred to prison in the morning for a one year sentence."

Kratos forced himself to keep his cool, but it was difficult. Yelling at the woman, however, would not help. "We are on an important religious pilgrimage," he said. "I'm sure my friends simply made a mistake. Perhaps if we were to pay an adequate amount of bail?"

"No, sir," she said. "We don't do that here."

"There has to be something-"

"There is nothing to be done," she said. "Your friends broke the law and now they have to pay for it. Thank you; have a nice evening."

This conversation was going nowhere. The difficult thing was that they _had_ broken the law, so talking their way out of this would be difficult. "I see," he said. "Thank you."

They left the station, but as soon as they were outside, Rowan spoke up. "We're just leaving?"

They stood off to the side, at the entrance to the narrow alley between the station and the abandoned shop. "Yes," Kratos said. "It does not appear that there is a legal way to get them released, and attempting a break out would be dangerous and risky."

"We can't just leave them," Rowan said. "We don't have time to wait a year for them to be released. If a jailbreak is the only way, then-"

Kratos sighed in frustration. "_Think_, Rowan. Are you suggesting the three of us attempt to break four people out of jail and then make it out of the largest, most powerful city in the country without getting recaptured, and then likely faced with even harsher penalties?"

Rowan took a breath and opened his mouth, but then faltered. He frowned, and averted his eyes to the ground. "…You're right," he said. "That's probably stupid." He raised his head a bit and said, "So, what do you think we should do?"

Kratos was surprised and pleased at his attitude. "We need to find another-"

"Kratos?" He heard his name being called from further down the alley, and jerked his head around in surprise. Who the hell…?

The voice came again, saying, "Is that actually you?" Kratos saw a flash of movement, and saw a hand grasping the bars of a small window on the side of the station.

"Pierce?"

Rowan and Shea shared surprised expressions, and then followed Kratos down the alley. Through the bars in the window, Kratos could see Pierce and Remiel.

Pierce gaped at Rowan and Shea. "You're alive!"

"No thanks to Todd," Shea said.

"Todd?"

"He tried to kill us," Rowan said.

Pierce wrinkled his brow. "He what? Why?"

"He works for Cruxis," Rowan said. "And I – I, um, I tried to interfere with the journey. So, he stabbed me and threw me overboard."

"That son of a bitch," Pierce said angrily.

"More importantly," Kratos said, "we need to get you out of here." He was just talking to Pierce, because Remiel was lurking in the background and watching him with barely disguised fear. Kratos wondered what he could have possibly done to inspire such terror in Remiel, but pushed those thoughts aside for later. "Where are Spiritua and Rebecca?"

"On the other side of the building," Pierce said. "Do you have any suggestions for getting us out?"

"Hm…" Kratos eyed the building. He might be able to blast it open with a spell, but that could be risky and cause a structural collapse. Additionally, once he blasted open one wall, they'd have to make a quick getaway, leaving the other two on the other side of the building behind.

"Hey!" came a voice at the end of the alley. Kratos looked over, hoping it wasn't a police officer. Instead it was a priest, whose red robes indicated he was from the temple of Efreet. "What are you hooligans doing, lurking back here? Are you the thieves?"

Kratos stepped away from the window and said, "Thieves? I'm sorry, sir, you must have us mistaken for someone else. I don't know what you're talking about."

The priest's anger died down. "I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just really frustrated. Someone has stolen our collection of fireworks that we were going to set off tomorrow night in honour of Efreet. I don't know how we're going to have our celebration without them."

"Do you have any idea who took them?" Shea asked.

The priest shook his head. "No. We only noticed they went missing half an hour ago, so I thought maybe it was you, since you're hanging around here. We're missing a canister of gasoline, as well. I just don't know who would have done this… Sorry for bothering you." The priest slumped his shoulders and walked away.

Missing fireworks and gasoline, huh? You could probably cause a pretty big explosion with enough of that. And where was Todd in all this? If he really was devoted to Cruxis, obviously he'd be intent on releasing Spirit and Rebecca. He would probably be far less concerned about structural collapse and rescuing all four of the companions from the jail. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Todd?" Rowan asked.

Kratos nodded. "Possibly." He looked to Pierce and said, "You might be in trouble. I think Todd might be planning to cause an explosion to release Spiritua and Rebecca."

"I see," Pierce said. "And you say release those two, because Remiel and I will likely be killed in the explosion."

Kratos nodded again. "Probably."

"Well then," Pierce said, "I guess you had better go find a way to stop this explosion from happening." Behind him, Remiel had a panicked expression and didn't seem nearly as composed about their imminent explosion as Pierce did.

Kratos, Rowan, and Shea left the alley and stood on the street. "The fireworks were stolen over half an hour ago," Kratos said. "Whatever Todd is up to, it's going to happen soon. There's no reason for him to wait around." He scanned the street, and his eyes fell on the abandoned shop between the temple and the police station. An explosion launched from there would destroy that side of the police office, conveniently the opposite side to where the Chosens were. He'd bet anything Todd was in there.

"What should we do?" Rowan asked.

"We might not be able to stop him in time," Shea said. "We need to get people out of the surrounding buildings."

Kratos nodded. "Right. I'm going after Todd. Shea, evacuate the police station if you can. Rowan, tell the priests in the temple to evacuate as well."

They both nodded, and then took off in opposite directions. Kratos turned his attention on the boarded-up windows of the shop.

* * *

Shea ran up the steps and back into the police stations. The woman at the desk looked up in annoyance. "Oh," she said. "You're back. Look, you're not going to convince me to let your friends go."

"This isn't about that," Shea said. "Everyone here is in danger. You need to evacuate the building."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "We're in danger?"

"Yes," Shea said. "An explosion is likely going to go off and kill a lot of people."

"Are you threatening us?" she asked.

"What? No!"

"You're not even a Fidalian citizen, are you?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Let me see your entry paper."

With an exasperated growl, Shea reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled sheet of paper. "Here. See? I entered this city legally."

The woman looked at the paper, and then fumbled in drawer at her desk to find a pair of glasses. Shea tapped her foot impatiently as this was going on. Every second took them closer to a possible explosion.

She peered at the paper, searching for any sign of forgery. "It says you gave your place of residence as Cleopolica," she said. "And yet you are clearly Trietan."

"I know," Shea said. This was starting to get really annoying, and she could only imagine how much more annoyed she'd be if she actually had been born in Cleopolica. "I moved to Cleopolica later in life. But that's not important!"

"I'll decide for myself what's important, young lady," the woman said, peering at her over her glasses. "Your whole story is very fishy. You're Trietan, but Cleopolican, trying to help people who claim to be from the Church of Martel – and Triet isn't a Martelist city so I don't know why someone like you would be affiliated with their church. And now you think you can get us to let your friends go by giving us bomb threats!"

"_I'm_ not threatening you!" Shea said. "I'm just warning you that someone else is! Why is this so hard to understand? You _are_ in danger, but I'm not the one who's going to do it." At least not for now; if this woman kept up this act, Shea had no guarantee she wouldn't get slapped across the face.

"Don't use that tone with me, girl," the woman said. "Isn't this a mighty coincidence? You want to get your friends out, and now suddenly there's a bomb threat and we need to get everyone out?"

"Yes," Shea said. "I'm sorry, I know it sounds fishy, but I'm telling the truth. My friend went to try and stop the explosion, but just in case he fails, we need to get everyone out." They were running out of time. She had no idea when Todd's bomb was going to go off and she'd rather not be in the police station when it did. This stupid woman was wasting their time.

The door to the station opened and a man entered. "Evening," he said. He saw Shea's furious expression and said, "What's going on?"

"The whole building is in danger," Shea said. "But she won't listen to me!"

"In danger?" he asked. "From what?"

"There's going to be an explosion," Shea said. "At least, there will be if my friend doesn't diffuse it first. The station needs to be evacuated."

"She won't shut up about this," the woman said. "She's just trying to get us to release her friends."

"Hold on," the man said. "A bunch of priests from the temple were standing around outside."

"Yes!" Shea said. "My friend went to the temple to tell them to evacuate." She was relieved knowing that at least Rowan had gotten the priests out. "A bunch of fireworks were stolen earlier. They're going to be used to cause an explosion to release a couple girls you've arrested. Everyone on the opposite side of the building will probably be killed, though."

"Hm…" the man said. "Evacuating everyone is a bit of a risk… luckily we don't have too many prisoners at the moment… we could go to the library behind the building, though."

Shea's ears perked up at the mention of the library. She'd been so concerned about rescuing the others she hadn't even thought about the library since they'd arrived. She desperately needed a chance to look through it, though. It could be her only chance.

The man nodded. "Alright. We'll take the prisoners we have now and everyone in the building and evacuate to the library. It's a secure enough government building, so the risk of prisoners escaping will be minimal."

"Thank Origin," Shea said. She didn't know what she would have done if the woman remained so antagonistic.

* * *

Kratos paced through the dusty, empty shelves. The room was dark and still, but he tread softly and kept his ears peeled for any sign of Todd. Where would a stash of fireworks be hidden? He reached the counter. He was beginning to wonder if maybe he'd guessed wrong about the shop when he noticed a streak in the dust. Someone had been in here. He'd be willing to bet it had been Todd.

He looked around. The tall shelves lining the room made it impossible to get a good view. Todd could easily be hiding in another aisle. But, Kratos wasn't here for Todd. His priority was to find the fireworks before they exploded. Behind the counter was a door. He looked closely at the handle, and noticed no dust on the knob. Either it had for some reason repelled dust, or someone had recently opened it. With his sword in hand, he slowly opened the door.

It was dark behind the door – even darker than the main room, which at least had light from the streetlamps filtering through the dirty windows. He could tell there was a staircase right in front of him that led down into a basement. It wasn't all dark down there, though; a small flame flickered on the floor. Taking this is a sign of activity, he walked down the stairs with all senses on high alert. He was ready for Todd to jump out from anywhere, but it seemed the boy was smart enough not to try. Todd seemed the type to prefer fighting in backhanded, sneaky ways, and would be easily overcome in a physical confrontation.

The basement was smaller than the room above, and shifted slightly to the left, so that the far edge of it was below the alley. Stacked up against the wall was a pile of fireworks, and in the dim light, a liquid glinted on the floor. He followed the trail of liquid with his eyes until he found the flame, which was from a flicking match sticking out of a match book. The little flame travelled slowly down the wooden stick, but from the smell in the room it wasn't hard to figure out that the liquid was gasoline. As soon as that little flame hit the match book, it would set the gasoline trail on fire and the bundle of fireworks would ignite not long after that. He had less than a minute to act.

_Bang!_

He almost jumped at the sudden sound, but it wasn't an impromptu explosion – it was the door slamming shut. Kratos didn't have to think too hard to come to the conclusion that Todd had indeed been lurking in the shop.

Damn, damn, damn. It only took him a split second to analyze the situation. The flame would reach the matchbook before he could reach the match. Todd would surely have locked the door out of the basement, and he didn't have time to bust it down before the whole room exploded. He was about to be in the middle of a very nasty explosion.

He started summoning magic. Maybe he could use water magic to put out the flame before it reached the fireworks. Blue light shot up around his feet, casting flickering shadows on the ominous pile of explosives.

He was just about ready to cast when the matchbook burst into flame. The trail of gasoline lit up immediately after. Fire raced along the floor, and Kratos yelled, "Aqua Edge!"

The bolt of water struck the gasoline trail, but rather than extinguishing the flame, it only succeeded in splattering fiery gasoline across the room. Kratos took a second to curse Origin-damned Todd for this whole debacle, and then the fire hit the large pool under the fireworks.

The room exploded into deafening sound, blinding light, and raging heat.


	38. Fire

**Chapter Thirty-Eight: Fire**

The priests had evacuated the temple without any protest. Having already known the fireworks and gasoline were stolen, the possibility of an explosion hadn't been farfetched to them at all. They clustered across the street from the temple with trepidation. Rowan stood with them, not knowing what to do from here. He wanted to go after Todd, but he didn't actually have any weapons. Besides, Kratos probably wanted to take care of that himself and if he burst in there he'd probably just get in the way.

As he stood on the street, he worried about the fact that Shea hadn't reappeared yet. The police station was as still as ever, with no sign that they were evacuating. What was taking so long? He also wondered what he was going to do if they turned out to be wrong. He'd feel pretty stupid herding all these priests out here for nothing.

That fear turned out to be baseless when a massive explosion rocked the street. A few of the priests fell over as the ground shook, and a burst of heat washed over Rowan's face as the shop across the street exploded. He threw his arms up to cover the flash of light, and even after the light died his ears rung from the deafening boom.

The world immediately after the explosion seemed very quiet and still. Sparks, debris, and burned cinders rained from the sky. The enter right side of the police station had been blasted open, and there was nothing left of the shop. The temple fared better, sustaining only minimal damage to its left side. What Rowan was more concerned about was the fact that none of the others had come out to the street before the blast.

Shit. Where they dead? They couldn't be dead. They'd come too far to die in an explosion like this. But he hadn't seen Pierce or Shea exit the police station, so what if they'd still been in there? In a panic, he ran forward. A priest shouted at him to wait until the fire went out, but he had to find the others. He even found himself caring about Kratos. Kratos had gone into that little shop that was the centre of the whole bang, and Rowan hadn't seen him exit. The idea that they were all dead was too terrifying to keep him standing still.

He ran into the alley, which wasn't much of an alley now that the buildings that made it an alley were in pieces. It looked almost like a bite had been taken out of the police station. "Shea?!" he shouted, coughing about from the ash and smoke in the air. "Pierce?!" He entered the station through the hole in the side. Rubble was everywhere, and bits of it were on fire. What he didn't see were bodies strewn about, and he let out a sigh of relief.

They must have taken another exit. He walked through the building, taking cautious steps in case the foundation was unstable, until he reached the back. There was another alley back here that separated the police station from the large building behind it. The large building seemed relatively unscathed by the blast save for some shattered windows. There was a door set into the stone wall, which he hurriedly went through.

The first thing he saw were books, and he wondered if this was the library Shea had kept going on about. Then he saw people in uniforms ahead of him, and his heart soared as he realized it was evacuated guards. Thank Origin they'd made it out. They stood in a large group in the library's atrium, a circular area ringed with a balcony and a dome overhead. Wide curving stairs came down from the balcony to meet the wooden floor of the atrium.

"Shea!" Rowan shouted, spotting her on the edge of the crowd.

She looked up when she saw him and her face brightened. "You're alright, then?" she asked.

"Fine," he said. "Everyone got out?"

Shea bit her lip. "They didn't get everyone out of the girls' side of the cells. I don't think that side of the building was damaged as much, though, so they're probably alright."

Rowan nodded. "It looked ok when I passed through. Pierce and Remiel?"

"Over there," Shea said, jerking her thumb to the centre of the crowd, where a handful of prisoners stood surrounded by guards. "Any sign of Kratos or Todd?"

Rowan shook his head. "As far as I know Kratos was in the shop when it exploded." He didn't let himself think that Kratos could possibly be dead. That just wasn't possible. Kratos was too strong to get taken out like this, Rowan told himself. That, and the idea that the one guy who always seemed to have all the answers could be dead was a bit terrifying. Rowan may not like the guy, but he didn't want him to be dead.

Then someone shouted, "Fire!"

Rowan looked over and saw that cinders from the explosion had blown in through the smashed windows, setting the books alight.

Shea's face gaped in horror. "No! The books!"

"Spirit and Rebecca need help first," Rowan said.

Shea blinked and regained her composure. "Right. I'll go get the keys and let them out. You meet up with Pierce and Remiel. See if you can sneak away. We'll meet up at the temple."

"How are you going to get the keys?" Rowan asked. "I can probably pick the lock."

"Key is faster and more reliable. And I'm going to steal them, of course. I'm quite good at picking pockets."

"Good luck."

She smiled. "I don't need it," she said, and then ran off.

With her gone, Rowan turned his attention to the fire. It was spreading rapidly along the book shelf. The guards were already trying to herd the prisoners out of the atrium, but cinders had entered through another window on the other side and started a fire down there as well. They were going to have to go out onto the street, but the guards didn't want to do that because controlling the prisoners out there would be impossible.

Rowan ran up to one of the guards. "We need to get out of here," he said.

"I know, kid," the guard said. "But the front door is locked right now. Give us a second to get it open."

Fire raced down the aisles toward them. Rowan spotted Shea slipping out from behind one of the guards and spotted a flash of silver in her hand. The guard didn't even notice her pass.

Shea darted out the door they'd come in through, which was going to be impassible in another minute from the fire. Then Rowan saw someone else hurrying to the door after her, and his blood boiled. Todd. No doubt he was going after the Chosens as well, and Rowan didn't for an instant think he was above killing Shea and taking the key for himself.

There wasn't time to think of a more logical plan, so Rowan sprinted down the short hall from the atrium toward him and leapt at him. Todd looked up just in time to see Rowan hurtling toward him, and the look of shock on his face was priceless.

They slammed into the ground, Rowan pinning Todd to the carpet. Todd glowered at him. "How the hell are you two still alive?"

"Just lucky I guess," Rowan said. Fire raced toward him, burning across the shelves and the carpet. He grabbed Todd by the collar and rolled out of the way, and then leapt to his feet. Fire now blocked the door, making going after Shea impossible. Fire was also coming very quickly toward the atrium, so Rowan took off running. Todd quickly followed, not keen on getting caught in the blaze. Ahead, he saw the big front doors of the library slowly creak open.

If Todd got out onto the street, he'd slip away and who knew what he'd do next. Rowan doubted he'd let their group leave without incident. So when Todd started running to the open doors across the circle of wooden floor beneath the dome, Rowan tackled him yet again. He wasn't going to let Todd get away and try to hurt the others again.

Todd shoved him off, and Rowan rolled to the side a second before a flash of silver stabbed down at him. Damn, Todd still had his knife by Rowan was weaponless. Well, he'd have to get into possession of that knife, then.

"You really are an idiot, aren't you?" Todd said. Rowan jumped to his feet and looked to the door. The fire was spreading across the carpet quickly, wrapping around the wooden floor. This wouldn't last long, though. The wood was still burning, just as a slower rate. "You're going to get us trapped in here!"

"Don't call me an idiot when you're the one who started this fire in the first place." Todd slashed at him with the knife, and Rowan barely dodged to the side. He didn't like fighting without a weapon. It was less fighting and more desperately trying not to get killed.

The wooden floor was on fire now, too. He could feel the heat all around them, and smoke billowed up to the dome. They weren't going to be able to stand here for too much longer. There was still a clear path to the front door, but that would probably vanish in a minute. Todd saw this, too, and made a run for it.

Rowan raced after him. Maybe he could get there, shove Todd into the fire, and then dash out the door. Todd was only a step ahead of him, and the door was wide open. They could both easily dart out into the street, but Rowan wasn't willing to let that happen. When they were seconds from the door, Rowan reached out and grabbed the back of Todd's shirt. He shoved him to the side. As he flailed to catch his balance, Todd reached out and grabbed Rowan's arm, jerking him back with a snarl.

They both fell to the ground, mere inches from the fire. They scrambled to their feet, but the interruption has been enough. Fire had closed off the exit, and they were surrounded by a ring of flame.

"You're going to get us both killed!" Todd shouted at him while both of them edged away from the fire and into the middle of the atrium.

Rowan scanned the ring of fire, looking for any exit. The burning floor was slowly by surely edging toward them. His eyes locked on the steps leading up to the balcony. He had no idea where he'd go from there, but it was better than standing around here and waiting to burn.

Todd saw him take off and wasted no time in following. They raced up the steps, and Rowan pulled the collar of his jacket close around his face as the smoke got thicker. The library wasn't burning up here yet, but there didn't seem to be any exit, either.

"This is your fault," Todd said.

"_My_ fault?" Rowan said. "Whose bright idea was it to blow a building up?!"

Todd didn't seem to have a good counter argument for that, so he resorted to primitive debate strategy of personal attacks. In this case, that meant charging at him with a knife.

* * *

The moment the fireworks went off, Kratos shouted, "Guardian!" The shimmering green shield burst to life around him milliseconds before the blast hit him. Fire wrapped around his shell and he blasted him off his feet. The entire trip took only a couple seconds. From his perspective, one second he was standing in the basement, the following one he was flying through the air from the force of the blast, and the next he smashed into the wall of the library. His shield had faded under the force of the blast mid-flight.

Kratos fell at least one storey to the ground, and then lay in place for a minute, catching his breath. He lay on the hard cobblestones in the narrow alley between the library and the temple. His chest ached, probably from broken ribs from smashing into the wall, and the fall had definitely not done good things to his knee. He was covered in cuts and scrapes in a variety of seriousness, likely the result of flying debris. His whole body ached when he slowly sat up, and for the first time in his life he really felt like an old man. His head hurt, and he reached a sore arm up and felt blood in his hair. That probably wasn't good. Though, considering he'd been blasted out of a basement by a massive explosion, he could be a lot worse off.

He leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. This was difficult because of his broken ribs. Well, hadn't he just been talking to Shea bout healing magic earlier today? This was as good a time as any to figure it out.

He concentrated on summoning mana. It was just like casting any other spell, just in reverse. Usually whenever he casted he focused on the power to harm others, but this needed the power to heal himself. Light danced in a circle around him, fainter than usual but it was there, at least.

"Ugh… First Aid." The light washed over him. It was a weird feeling. Usually when he used magic, he felt the mana blast away from him, but this was like an elastic band rebounding into him. Some of the cuts on his arm closed and the throbbing pain in his chest died down, but didn't completely go away.

He put his hand to the wall and forced himself to his feet. His knee was still messed up, but he thought the worst of the bleeding had stopped. Not bad for a first try. He used the wall for support and limped down the alley. Finding Shea was his first priority, because he wasn't going to be much of a help to anyone until he got a proper First Aid.

* * *

Shea sprinted up to the cell door. Spirit's heart skipped a beat when she saw her. Shea was alive? That meant Rowan might be alive too!

"Shea!" Rebecca shouted, running to the bars. "You're alright!"

"Yeah," she said, sticking the key into the lock. "Rowan's ok, too," she said, glancing to Spirit.

"What's going on?" Rebecca said. "Was there some kind of explosion?"

She nodded and swung the door open. "Todd tried to blow up the building to let you out."

"Todd?" Rebecca said.

"It's kind of a long story. The truncated version is that he's evil." She stood aside and let Rebecca and Spirit walk out. "We're going to meet up with the others in front of the temple."

Spirit followed Shea and Rebecca out of the cell and down the hall. Spirit thought over everything she knew about Todd, and it all fell into place. His eagerness to join them, Lord Yggdrasill coming to take Kratos away soon after she'd shouted for the whole group to hear that Kratos had offered to abandon the quest, him being the first one up to discover Rowan and Shea gone… Fury built within her. She hated him for deceiving them, and hated herself for falling for it.

They stopped just long enough to retrieve their weapons from the storage room, and then ran out onto the street. They were met with crowds staring at something behind her with fearful eyes, and she looked back to see the library burning. It was a stone building, so most of the fire was contained inside, but burst of flame spouted from shattered windows.

"Argh!" Shea shouted. "That stupid bastard! All the books! This was my only chance!"

"The others are at the temple, right?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Shea said distractedly, her eyes still glued to the library. Reflected fire danced in her horrified eyes. She took a deep breath, and then said, "I have to find the journal. Maybe I can get to it before the fire does. You guys wait here."

She started running, but Rebecca grabbed her hand. "Are you crazy?!"

"I have to!" Shea said. "I need to know the secret to the panacea."

"You're going to get yourself killed," Rebecca said. "One book isn't worth that. You can't heal _anyone_ if you're dead."

Shea's expression of fury crumbled into despair. "But… I've worked my whole life to find the secret. It could be in there, right now, burning to ashes."

Spirit pulled her pad of paper from her pocket and scribbled, _I'll get it._

They both looked at her in surprise.

She added, _Heat doesn't bother me and I can hold my breath longer. I'm stronger. I can get it. What's it called?_

Shea glanced at the burning library, hesitated, and then said, "The research journal of Philippus Aureolus, specifically one about a trip to the south-east. I need to know about a species of flower he found."

Spirit nodded. She could do that. She wasn't entirely sure what this was about, but it was clearly very important to Shea, and Spirit worried that Shea would get herself hurt trying to find this herself.

"Here," Shea said, untying the sash around her waist. "Wrap it around your face to help with the smoke, and keep your head low."

Spirit nodded. It felt weird putting on a scarf to go into a very hot room, but she wouldn't notice the heat anyway. She ran down the alley through the broken buildings, and entered the library.

Fire roared right in front of her and she jumped back. She couldn't feel it, but she was sure the heat would have been incredible. She pulled out her wings, and then summoned up her mana and thought, _Damage Guard_. A green shield shimmered around her, and she flew into the fire. She didn't know how long she could keep this up, so she flew as quickly as she could to try and find unburned ground. It was hard to see through the fire all around, but none of the flames could break through her shield. Ahead, she saw a sign that said 'Maps and Jour-' with the other half of it burned away. As she watched, the R was also consumed by flame. She was pretty sure that was what she was looking for, so flew onward.

In the back corner of the first floor, there was a large open area with maps laid out on tables under glass. The fire hadn't fully invaded this part yet, so she let her feet touch down and her shield faded. As soon as the green disappeared, thescent of smoke overpowered her. She regretted her heightened senses, and buried her face deeper into Shea's scarf. Along the back wall, leather-bound journals lined the shelves. One of the shelves was already on fire, so she started at the other end of that one and scanned the titles.

There were journals of the fauna of some place called Gaorrachia Forest, there were hand-written notes from someone who claimed to have witness the treaty signing between the Sixth King of Balacruf and Cleo the First, and a diary that stated to recount someone's experience meeting Mithos the Hero. She coughed from the smoke, and blinked her eyes furiously. She had thought she wanted to cry in the past, but her eyes were so dry and stung from the smoke so badly that she wanted to dunk her face in water. At least she didn't have to deal with the oppressive heat that came from standing so close to the roaring fire, but the sweat trickling down her neck told her that her body recognized the heat even if she didn't.

She was about to give up when she spotted a block of about five books on the bottom shelf. The fifth one was already burning, but the name on the spine read Philippus Aureolus. Her heart leapt, and she snatched the remaining four off the shelf, praying that the fifth one wasn't the one Shea needed.

There was a window on the wall behind the bookshelf that hadn't been smashed yet. Spirit ran to it and used one of the books to smash it open, and then climbed out into the fresh air.

* * *

Rowan wiped blood off his face with his shirt sleeve. Sweat from the killer heat mingled into the cuts that Todd had managed to deliver and made them sting**.** There didn't seem to be any exit from the library from the second floor, and the first floor was a raging block of fire, so Todd has apparently decided that if they were going to die, he was going to take Rowan out first.

They both panted for breath. This was difficult with all the smoke in the air. A large window facing the street had shattered from the shock waves, which let in some fresh air. Even this welcome relief didn't stop Rowan's eyes from watering from the smoke. He considered trying to make it to the window and jump to the street, but enough of it was still in place that he'd have to get through shards of razor sharp glass and then survive a leap to the street below. He'd also have to survive getting there, which would be difficult with Todd trying so hard to kill him.

Aflurry of sparks flew into the air as a piece of the wooden banister around the balcony fell into the fire below. The fire was getting alarmingly close to them now. The prospect of burning to death was very real in Rowan's mind, especially if the balcony's support gave way and they crashed down into the flames. He wondered if this would be a better or worse death than dying of dehydration and exposure drifting in the ocean.

He was getting light headed. There was too much smoke in the air. His movements were slow and clumsy, but luckily Todd's were too. Todd made a stab at him and he stumbled back a few steps. He could feel the heat on the back of his neck and knew he was quite close to the edge of the balcony, where the railing had already fallen in and there was nothing to keep him from toppling into the fire if he took a wrong step.

Todd tried to stab him again, but Rowan couldn't risk stepping any further back. He caught Todd's wrist and gripped it as tight as he could, and then Todd brought his leg around and with a solid kick, swept him off his feet.

Rowan fell with a gasp, taking in a great mouthful of smoky air and then devolving into a coughing fit. Todd grinned at him manically, and reflected fire glimmered along the blade of the knife.

"You have been aggravatingly hard to kill," Todd said.

In the span of a couple seconds, Rowan tried to decide if he'd rather sit here and get stabbed to death, or fall backwards and burn to death. Then, he saw movement behind Todd, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" Remiel screamed, careening toward them like a dive-bombing seagull.

Todd looked over his shoulder and dropped his knife in shock. He jumped to the side, and Remiel skimmed past him, knocking him off balance. Todd's arms pin-wheeled. Rowan leapt to his feet and shoved. For a second, their eyes locked on each other and Todd's expression was one of calm, seething fury and unadulterated hatred. Then, the gravity of the situation overcame him, and he fell with a look of terror. Rowan watched his body fall into the raging fire below, but quickly averted his eyes. Hearing his screams was more than enough.

"Are you alright?" Remiel asked. His eyes were wide and he was shaking, either with excitement or terror. "Oh, Martel, I can't believe I did that!"

"I'm fine," Rowan said. He probably wasn't, because he was bleeding all over and lightheaded from smoke inhalation, but there wasn't time for a full assessment now. "Can you get me out of here?"

Remiel nodded. "Yes, I can carry you." He wrapped his arms around Rowan's chest and took off. "It's really chaotic on the street," he explained as they flew toward the window. "It was easy to slip away from the guards. We're meeting Pierce and the others at the temple."

"And everyone's ok?"

"I don't know," Remiel said. "No one's heard from Kratos and Spiritua went into the library to look for a book for Shea."

"She what?!"

"Yes, I was distressed to hear that as well," Remiel said. They flew through the window, and Rowan took a few grateful gulps of fresh air. After the heat inside, the cool night air was practically freezing. "According to Rebecca, Shea was about to run into the library herself, but Spiritua went instead because she was stronger and better equipped to survive."

Rowan tried to quell his frustration. This was just like Spirit; running into danger to help others. It was really quite admirable how selfless she was. He just wished she would stop worrying him so much.

They flew high over the library. Below, the fire brigade had a team with buckets to try and put out the flames. On the other side of the street, they landed on the steps of Efreet's temple. The first thing Rowan saw was Spiritua, sitting on the steps next to Rebecca.

"Oh, Chosen, you're safe!" Remiel said. "Good, good, this is excellent."

Spiritua stood up and stared at Rowan, relief and joy clear across her face. Then that face buried itself on Rowan's shoulder as she hugged him.

"I'm glad you're alive, too," Rowan said. "I'm sorry I worried you."

"Anyone seen Kratos?" Rebecca asked.

"Here I am," came Kratos' voice as he emerged from the alley and slowly made his way toward them. He walked with a limp and seemed to be in a lot of pain. His white outfit was splattered with blood and his already messy hair was littered with bits of wood and dust.

"What happened to you?" Rowan asked when he eased down onto a seat on the steps.

"I took an explosion to the face," Kratos said. "Shea, if you wouldn't mind a healing spell?"

"Right," she said.

While she healed him, Pierce said, "We should make our way out of the city as quickly as possible before we get arrested again. Where's Todd?"

"Dead," Rowan said.

Pierce nodded and took the news without comment.

Rowan hesitated, but there was something else he needed to say and he couldn't put it off. "Pierce, I need to say I'm sorry. I owe you an apology for my past behaviour."

"Accepted. Now's not the time to get into it."

"Let me heal you, too, Rowan," Shea said.

He stood still and let her work her magic, sighing in relief when all his cuts and throbbing headache faded away.

"Is everyone ready to go?" Kratos said. He ran his hand through his hair to try and dislodge some splinters.

"Yes," Pierce said. "What is your plan, Kratos? Is your emergency with Cruxis taken care of?"

"Yes," Kratos said. "It's done. I will accompany you to the Tower, since I need to head back there anyway. Let's move out."

* * *

Lloyd and the others sat on the edge of a planter in the main square of the city. It had not been a productive morning. They'd gone to the police but had even worse luck getting them to release Alice than they had getting them to release Raine. The problem was that the police were now dead-certain that Alice was to blame. They didn't seem to care that Decus had been the first to draw a weapon; they just saw a half-elf at the middle of it, and assumed the worst. It was infuriating. Alice hadn't been very nice to them, but Lloyd was sure she wasn't a bad person and didn't deserve to get locked up like this.

"Here you guys are!" Decus ran up to them. "Have you had any luck in securing the release of my dear, sweet Alice?"

Lloyd looked up at him glumly, and Raine said, "No, we have not."

Decus' face fell. "But we have to save her! How can I continue our trip without her?"

"We're sorry," Lloyd said. "We're trying our best, but the police won't listen."

"Do you think Brute could help?" Genis asked.

"I doubt it," Regal said. "He didn't seem to want to get involved."

"Who's Brute?" Decus asked, looking between them in confusion.

"He's the one who organized the protest," Genis said. "He lives on Peach Pie Street."

"Don't give up hope," Colette said. "We'll free Alice, you'll see!"

Decus smiled and nodded. "Yes! We mustn't give up hope! I'll see you guys later. Good luck!" He waved and walked away.

Lloyd tried to match his enthusiasm, but found it difficult. Why couldn't the world simply stop being so damn racist? Everyone's lives would be so much easier.

The only good thing about this whole mess was that it kept Kratos on the planet a bit longer, and he had time to tell the story between all their down time and wandering around. Earlier, he had wondered what they'd do if they reached the Tower of Salvation and Kratos was only halfway through the story, but now he was pretty sure they'd finish the story before even leaving Palmacosta. It could possibly take ages to work this mess out with Alice, but the conclusion to Spiritua's story was rapidly approaching.


	39. The Tower of Salvation

****Sorry for the delay in posting; school started up again and suddenly I no longer was able to spend my entire day writing fanfiction. But it's here now, and hoepfully the next chapter won't take nearly as long to write. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Tower of Salvation**

Around dawn, they stopped to rest. They'd been walking all night, trying to put as much distance between themselves and Fidalia as possible. They'd been following an old dirt road leading north, and stopped where it ended at an old wooden fence.

"We should get some sleep," Kratos said. "We should be far enough away from Fidalia now."

The group slumped to the ground, exhausted.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" Rebecca asked, lying on the grass and staring up at the orangey sky.

"Probably another half a day," Kratos said. He looked north, the Tower of Salvation dominating the horizon. "We'll sleep for a few hours and get up at noon to keep travelling. We'll reach the Tower of Salvation this evening."

"Wow…" Rebecca said, looking up at the Tower. "We're so close."

Meanwhile, Shea sat on the grass, flicking through the books Spiritua had retrieved for her. Kratos hoped they were exactly what she wanted, because Spirit had gone to quite a risk to get them.

"What's everyone going to do when this is over?" Rebecca asked.

"Well, I'm going back to Welgaia," Remiel said. "And I assume you're returning to Meltokio."

"That's right," Rebecca said. "It's been a nice vacation. You know, in between the bits where I almost died."

"Shea and I will be heading back to Cleopolica," Pierce said. "I think we can cross the mountains to get there rather than looping all the way back around."

"I guess I'll go back to Luin," Rowan said, leaning against the fence post.

"What about you, Spirit?" Rebecca asked, sitting up in her elbow and looking over. "Where do you go after you become an angel?"

Spirit froze and stared at her, not knowing what to say.

Rowan spoke up. He didn't look at either of them as he quietly said, "Nowhere. The Journey of Regeneration ends in the Chosen's death."

There was shocked silence. Spirit look to Rowan in surprise, Remiel and Shea looked awkwardly down at the grass, and Rebecca and Pierce stared at Spiritua in horror. Kratos sat back and watched, not feeling that it was his place to intervene.

"Whoa, whoa, wait," Rebecca said, sitting up completely. "You're going to _die_?"

Spiritua nodded.

"And you're alright with that?!"

She nodded again, slowly and seriously.

Rebecca looked around the group, looking for anyone else to side with her. Everyone else wore matching expressions of resignation and sadness.

"It's the only way to save the world," Rowan said.

Rebecca looked to him desperately. "Rowan, come on, you of all people should be against this!"

Rowan grimaced. "I admit, I was at first." He looked to Spirit as he continued talking. "And I hate it. I wish more than anything that Spirit didn't have to die. But… if it's the only way, then Spirit has a right to decide what to do with her own life."

Spirit gave him the faintest of smiles and nodded a bit. It was her way of thanking him for understanding.

"This is bullshit!" Rebecca shouted. She looked to Kratos and demanded, "Why does Cruxis do this? Why do they make the Chosen suffer so much? It isn't fair!"

"Life seldom is, Chosen," Kratos said.

"But…" Rebecca looked to Spirit mournfully. "Spirit's going to die? And if our worlds were swapped, then it would be _me_ that you're expecting to die. How is this holy?"

It wasn't. But Kratos didn't say that. What he did say was, "Nothing in life comes without a price, including regeneration of the world. The Chosen bears the burden of that price so that the rest of the world may live in peace. One life in exchange for the safety and prosperity of thousands is far from a steep price." Or, at least it would be if the whole thing wasn't a scam, screwing over countless individuals all to resurrect one dead girl. Thousands of lives in exchange for one _was_ a steep price.

Rebecca hung her head. She didn't have an argument and no one else in the group was supporting her. She quietly muttered, "It's just not right."

"So that's the truth of it," Pierce said. He sighed, and then added, "We all support you, Spiritua."

She smiled, and then quickly wrote a message and held it up. _Thank you so much everyone. I couldn't have made this journey without all of you_.

"We probably could have done without Todd," Rowan said.

Remiel shifted his weight awkwardly. "And, uh, you probably would have been ok without me, too…"

"What are you talking about?" Rowan said, slapping him on the shoulder. "You saved my life! You're a part of the team, Remiel."

Remiel smiled, his wings fluttering in happiness.

"And Spirit," Rowan said, "I want you to know that Shea and I decided that if I get wealth for being the carrier of the Mana Lineage in the wake if the regeneration, we're going to use it to fund her clinic in Cleopolica. We're going to use your status as the Chosen to help a whole bunch of people."

Spirit smiled. She didn't bother writing out a thank you, because Rowan could read it on her face better than he could read it on paper.

Then Shea looked up from her book. She'd pulled herself out of the conversation to peruse the pages, but now she stared up with an empty expression. "No," she said. "We're not."

"Huh?" Rowan shot his head around to her. Everyone's good moods faded as they saw the serious expression on her face. "Why not? What's wrong?"

"I found the answer," she said. "I found it, right here in Philippus Aureolus' book. There's a rare flower that, when ground up and mixed with some other ingredients, creates a potion that can cure any poison or venom."

"But that's great!" Rowan said. "You've been looking for this for ages."

"Yes," Shea said. "The thing is, the flower only grows in the Fooji Mountains."

Her statement was met with silence, and confusion from almost all of them. Only Kratos and Rebecca understood the implications of what she'd said.

Rowan looked around in confusion, checking to see if he was the only one who didn't know what she was talking about. "I don't understand. Where are the Fooji Mountains?"

"They're a mountain range outside of Meltokio," Kratos said. "In Tethe'alla."

Rowan gaped at him. "In… in Tethe'alla? But that's an entire world away!"

"I know," Shea said. "That's why I have to go there."

Rebecca frowned. "You want to go to Tethe'alla?"

Shea looked to Kratos. "Can I? You're already setting things up to send Rebecca back, so will you allow me to go with her?"

Kratos nodded. "It shouldn't be a problem. However, I hope you realize that you will not be able to re-enter the Tower of Salvation. If you go to Tethe'alla, you will never be able to return to Sylvarant."

"I understand," Shea said.

"You can't," Rowan said, his head darting between Shea and Kratos. "You – you just can't."

Shea reached out and held his hand. "I'm sorry, Rowan. But discovering how to create a panacea has been my life's goal since I was a little girl. This is my only chance. Once I create it, I'm sure I can reverse engineer an alternate method that would make it possible to create in Sylvarant, but I _need_ the flower before I can figure anything else out. This is more important to me than anything."

"I'll go with you," Rowan said.

"You can't," Kratos said. "You must remain in Sylvarant to further the Mana Lineage."

Rowan stared at the grass. "But… we just…"

Shea squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry."

He looked up at her. "But, that means after today I'm never going to see you again." He looked out at the group. "So, when we reach the Tower tonight, you, and Rebecca, and Kratos, and Remiel, and Spirit… you're all leaving."

Everyone in the group seemed to find the grass startlingly fascinating.

Rowan leaned back against the fence post and crossed his arms. "Alright. I get it. We all have places we need to be. Pierce, looks like it's just going to be you and me making the hike back over the mountains."

"We should all get some sleep now," Kratos said. "It will be a long walk this afternoon."

* * *

They were in Genis and Raine's hotel room once again, with no leads, no luck, and no hope.

"I think we're going to have to accept the fact that securing a legal release for Alice is impossible," Regal said.

"It's just not fair," Genis said, squeezing a pillow in his lap as he sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Well…" Lloyd said, knowing a good proportion of the others weren't going to like this plan. "We could always break her out."

"How?" Zelos asked. "You want to blow up the police station, too?"

"No!" Lloyd said. "Nothing extreme like that. But, we did save Kate when we got her in trouble. Alice deserves the same treatment. We've got to get her out."

"I agree with Lloyd," Colette said. "We need to help her!"

Kratos said, "A break out may be the quickest solution now."

"It could be dangerous," Raine said.

Lloyd shrugged. "When has that ever stopped us before?"

"Alright," Sheena said. "I'm up for it. There's no way the Palmacosta police can be more difficult to deal with than the angels in Welgaia."

Raine shook her head with a bemused smile. "I swear, the rest of you just go looking for trouble, don't you?"

"We need to work this out," Presea said, pulling out a sheet of paper with the hotel's name stamped across the top. "What will our plan of action be?"

"We're going to break Alice out, of course!" Lloyd said.

"Yeah, Lloyd, we get that," Zelos said. "We need to figure out _how_ we're going to do that."

Lloyd's fire died a bit. "Oh. Right. Yeah."

* * *

The Tower of Salvation rose up before them. Rowan had known it was huge, since it was visible from all over the world, but standing before it was something else. It just went up and up until it disappeared into the clouds. It rose up out of the ground with a wide pit around the base, which Rowan couldn't see the bottom of. Maybe the Tower kept going down until it warped through realty and joined up with the top. They stood on the platform before the entrance. The steps leading up to it floated in space and seemed to be made of light, but they had been solid enough when he stood on them.

"How do we get in?" Pierce asked.

"Spiritua, place your hand on the oracle stone," Kratos said, gesturing to a stone plinth. Spiritua hesitantly reached out, and light flashed under her fingers as soon as she touched it. The massive door in front of them slid open.

"This is it, then," Rebecca said. She looked behind her at the grassy field they'd crossed. "Goodbye, Sylvarant. It's been fun."

She walked into the Tower, followed by Remiel and Pierce. Spiritua hesitated, taking in everything there was to see in the world one last time before turning and following the others in, with Kratos right behind her.

"Are you sure about this?" Rowan asked Shea, who stood on the platform and took her last look at Sylvarant.

She nodded. "This is something I have to do. It's more important to me than anything."

"I'm going to miss you." He didn't want her to go. It didn't seem fair that she had to leave now, when their relationship was just starting out, and it wasn't fair that he had to lose her at the same time he was already losing Spirit. But this wasn't about fairness, and it wasn't about what he wanted. If he truly wanted to prove to her that he could be better, and could be the guy she deserved, then he had to let her go and finish her dream, even if it meant never seeing each other again. Besides, if Shea were willing to give up on her quest to stay behind with some boy, she wouldn't be the girl he'd fallen for.

She smiled sadly and then wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. "I'm going to miss you, too."

"You're going to be an amazing doctor. Tethe'alla won't know what hit them."

"And maybe Tethe'alla isn't as racist against half-elves. After all, it's not like they have Desians there."

"Yeah," Rowan said, trying to be as positive as he could. "It's going to be great for you."

"We should get going," Shea said, looking into the Tower. She slipped away from him and walked into the building. Rowan sighed, looked out at the green fields one last time, and then followed.

He walked down a path that seemed to be floating in mid-air. The ground was clear, like it was some kind of translucent crystal. It was lined with pillars that floated on balls of light, and beyond the path was an empty void of swirling green light. Even if hadn't already accepted that angelic magic was real, this would have convinced him. Everything about the Tower was so otherworldly he wondered if stepping through the door had taken him to an alien planet.

At the end of the path, everyone stood around a glowing circle on the floor. "What is this?" he asked.

"A warp," Remiel explained. When you step on it, it will teleport you somewhere else."

"How does it work?" Shea asked Kratos.

Kratos thought for a moment, and then said, "…Mana. It, uh, it's a power source." He quickly moved the topic along. "It's perfectly safe. Just step on it and it will take you to the altar room."

They crowded onto the circle. They almost didn't all fit, and Rowan was paranoid that if his foot wasn't completely on, half of him would be left behind. He was about to step off and just go by himself, when the light turned bright and the warp activated. He experienced about two seconds of feeling like his body was both stretching and condensing at the same time, and then everything smashed back to normal and he stood, blinking in surprise, in a new room.

"Whoa," Rebecca said. "Remind me not to do that on a full stomach."

"You get used to it," Remiel said. "It's really not that bad, and it's quite convenient."

"I can see why," Shea said, leaning over to look down at the swirling nothingness below them. The pathway they'd come in on was so far down they couldn't even see it anymore. "Can you imagine having to walk all the way up the Tower?"

"Now that's just silly," Rebecca said as they walked down the pathway toward the altar. "Angels have wings, so they'd just fly up."

"I guess that explains why there are no stairs," Shea said. "Because you'd think they'd want a staircase as backup if the warp broke."

They reached a wide platform in the centre of the Tower, with a raised altar in front of them. Remiel hurried forward. "Alright, Chosen, this is it. Step up onto the altar and release the final seal."

Spirit turned and faced the group. Kratos and Pierce were stony-faced, Shea chewed on her lip to keep herself from showing Spirit just how sad she was, and Rebecca's mouth was in a firm line somewhere between a frown and a scowl, because she knew neither of them would help Spirit but couldn't hold back her misery and anger. Rowan didn't know what his face was doing. He wanted to be calm and serious like Kratos and Pierce, but the thought that Spirit was about to die made grief impossible to keep away. He didn't want her to know how much it hurt, because this was hard enough for her without thinking she was hurting him, but he couldn't help it.

She met his eyes, as if to say, _I know, and I'm sorry_.

He slowly nodded his head. She understood. _I understand, and I love you_.

Spirit forced a big smile on her face as she looked at the gathered companions, and the thankfulness in her eyes told them how grateful she was for their support and how much she cared about their friendship far more than words on a notepad ever could.

The moment ended, and she walked to the altar. She looked so small as she walked up the steps and then knelt in prayer. Light shined down from above, and Yuan faded onto the scene. He hovered in the air above her while Spirit prayed.

"You have reached the final seal," Yuan said. "We of Cruxis are immeasurably proud of you. Are you fully prepared to sacrifice your heart and your memory, and become a true angel?"

Spirit raised her head. For a long and hope-filled second, Rowan entertained the idea that she would say no. But she nodded her head, slowly, forcefully. Light glowed around her feet and Spiritua hovered into the air. This was happening, it was really happening. Rowan didn't want to look, but he felt guilty to look away. _I'm sorry, Dad_, he thought. _I'm so sorry I couldn't save her_. Fingers brushed his clenched fists, and Shea took his hand. She didn't say a word, but he gratefully took her comfort.

Spiritua's wings came out and she spread her arms wide and arched her back. The light from the altar was so bright Rowan squinted to keep his eyes on her. He knew that the time he had left to see his sister still alive was measured in mere seconds, and he didn't want to waste any of those seconds looking away.

And then the light faded. Spirit's arms fell to her side. Her whole body slumped in the air, and then she hung in the air like a marionette without a puppeteer. Spirit was gone.

Yuan sighed, and hovered to the ground. He pulled his wings in and said, "Well. That's that." He looked nearly as excited as Spiritua.

"So it is," Kratos said, walking forward. He didn't look at Spirit.

"That's it?" Rowan said. "We're just… done?"

Kratos looked over at him. "What else would you have us do? If you were expecting a fireworks display, I'm afraid I've had enough fireworks recently to last a life time."

Remiel looked between Yuan and Kratos, unable to keep the excitement off of his face. "What's wrong with you two? We _should_ be celebrating! The Journey of Regeneration is finally finished and Martel's vessel is complete!"

Neither Kratos nor Yuan looked terribly excited about this, although Rowan had to wonder what 'Martel's vessel' meant.

Remiel looked back at the rest of the group, who all wore matching long faces. "And the rest of you, come on, cheer up! Sylvarant will finally be regenerated, just like you always wanted! I mean, it's too bad for Tethe'alla, but at least Sylvarant has been saved!"

Kratos' head shot up in alarm at what Remiel had said, while Rebecca said, "Wait… what about Tethe'alla?"

Remiel's eyes grew wide and horror spread across his face. Rowan got the distinct impression that he had just said something he ought not to have. "I – I didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah, you meant something," Rebecca said, crossing her arms. She was already so upset with what had happened to Spirit that any tiny problem threatened to set off her temper. "What do you mean that 'it's too bad for Tethe'alla?'"

"It's just… the worlds… um…" Remiel clutched his hands together as his wings nervously fluttered. His eyes darted all over the room, searching for an answer that was nowhere to be found. "You mustn't be angry," he tried. "It's only fair. Sylvarant deserves its chance to flourish as well."

"Tell me what the hell you're talking about!" Rebecca shouted. "What is going to happen to my home?"

Remiel took a step back from her fury. "Um – uh – it…" He looked to Kratos and Yuan for help. They stared at him with disbelief and intense irritation, and made no move to aid him.

"It's like an hourglass, you see," Remiel said. "It's just like what Kratos said earlier! Nothing can be gained without paying a price. There's only a finite amount of mana in the universe, so it's only fair that each world gets its turn at having it!"

"If I may interpret your ramblings," Pierce said, "are we to assume that what you mean is that currently, Sylvarant was dying because Tethe'alla had all the mana, but now by regenerating the world, Sylvarant will take that mana from Tethe'alla?"

"You're taking our mana?!" Rebecca shouted. "You're going to turn Tethe'alla into what Sylvarant is now? With the starvation and drought and everything?"

"It's not like we're just taking the mana and giving it to Sylvarant in one go!" Remiel said. "Ever since the world's separated, the mana has always got to be moving so it flows along the links, and it's just natural that if it's flowing in direction eventually it's going to all end up in one world and leave the other dry."

Kratos started walking back toward him. "Remiel, you have explained enough," he said.

But Remiel was rambling now, fuelled on by a desperate attempt to appease the furious group. "It's not like we _wanted_ this! It's just how the world is! The Chosen just has to come along and open each of the four links to reverse the flow, and then once Sylvarant has been flourishing for a while another Chosen will reverse it again and it's all very simple!"

"Four links?" Rowan said, trying to follow this explanation in his head. "That's… that would be the seals, right? Unlocking the seals opens the link."

"What do you mean, 'four links?'" Shea said. "There's five. Light, wind, water, fire, and the Tower."

Remiel stumbled for words. "Er, no, I'm sure I said five links. The Chosen has to unlock the Tower of Salvation, of course. Um…"

"Remiel," Kratos said, a bit more firmly. "That is enough."

Remiel looked to Kratos with a fearful expression. "I'm – I'm sorry, my lord. I'm just trying to be helpful."

"Take the Chosen to Lord Yggdrasill," Yuan said.

"Yes, yes, of course, sir," Remiel said, tripping over himself in his haste to both bow and run forward to follow orders. A glowing circle at the base of the altar rose up to be level with the platform, and Remiel stepped onto it with Spiritua in tow. Rowan gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do but watch as the warp activated and they faded away. Spiritua was gone. She was really gone.

"Alright, Rebecca," Yuan said, walking over. "With that taken care of, we can get you home now."

"No," Rebecca said. "I'm not going anywhere until you explain what that babbling idiot meant."

Yuan sighed, and looked to Kratos for help. When Kratos didn't immediately jump in, Yuan said, "Well… it's like he said, really. The worlds exist like an hourglass. The mana always has to flow from one world to the other. In order to bring Sylvarant back from the brink of death, the mana has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is Tethe'alla."

"Did Spirit know about this?" Rowan asked Kratos.

"No," Kratos said, his face unreadable. "She did not."

"I think she had a right to know," Shea said. "If her actions caused the downfall of Tethe'alla, she should have been able to take that into account when she made her decision!"

"Also," Pierce said, "what exactly did Remiel mean by four links?"

"They're linked elements," Yuan said. "The eight elements that make up the world. Four of them are in Sylvarant and four in Tethe'alla. Mana flows along the ties between them. Light to darkness, wind to earth, etcetera. Unlocking the seal reverses the direction the mana is flowing."

"But this is the fifth seal," Rowan said. "If the mana only flows between the links of the elements, what is the point of this final seal?" He was trying very hard to keep his temper. The angels didn't exactly owe them anything, and could just kick them out without any answers if they wanted to. He had to keep his cool, because he had to know everything about what Spirit had gotten herself into.

Yuan looked to Kratos again. He clearly wasn't sure what he was allowed to say. Kratos spoke up in his place. "The final seal is… special. It has more to do with regeneration for Martel herself than the world."

"If she's a goddess, why does she need to be regenerated?" Rowan asked.

"It's a very long story," Yuan said.

"You know what?" Rowan said. "I don't care. There are two important things to take out of this conversation. The first is that by sacrifice herself, Spirit has effectively damned Tethe'alla. I know I can't always know exactly what she wants and feels is best, but I know for sure that she wouldn't be happy about that. The second is that the world could still be regenerated if we had skipped the final seal, as long as the first four mana links were unlocked."

"That is… correct," Yuan said, looking at him hesitantly.

Rowan clenched his fists. "So, she could have saved the world without becoming an angel and giving up her life. This is just some bonus religious thing."

"Does it have anything to do with Martel's vessel?" Pierce asked. "Remiel mentioned that, but I don't understand exactly what it means."

Kratos looked irritated and Yuan muttered something that sounded a lot like 'Origin-damned Remiel.'

"Well, a vessel is something you put stuff in," Rebecca said. "And Spirit just gave up her soul and left her body empty and open for something to be put in."

"That makes sense," Shea said. "That could be what Yuan meant by a regeneration for Martel."

"This conversation is over," Yuan said. "Rebecca, you're coming with me. We're going back to Tethe'alla."

"Hold on," Rowan said. "Don't think we're just going to walk away now that we know the truth."

Kratos gave them a serious look. "You cannot walk out and start telling the entire world everything you learned here. I have no wish to do you harm, but I'm afraid Cruxis cannot allow you to spread these rumours across the world."

"Spread the truth, you mean," Shea muttered, crossing her arms.

"I'm not walking away," Rowan said. "This isn't what Spirit agreed to. She didn't want any of this! She didn't want to become an angel if there was any other way, and she wouldn't have wanted Tethe'alla to suffer in our place. You lied to her about what she had to do to regenerate the world." He strode past Kratos and Yuan and toward the altar, with the warp still glowing in place.

"And where do you think you're going?" Yuan said.

"I'm going to bring her back."

"Rowan!" Shea said. "I thought you said you'd agreed to let Spirit go through with her decision?"

He paused on the steps. "This is different. Her decision wasn't fully informed. We agreed once that if there was any possible way to regenerate the world without her completely becoming an angel, then we'd take it. Well, it turns out there was a way right in front of us all along, so I'm bringing her back so she can take the path she _really_ wanted."

"How do you expect to do that?" Kratos said. "She has already sacrificed her heart and memories. Her soul is gone."

"Yeah," Rowan said. "But it seems to me that if you can take a soul out of a body, then you can put one back in, right?" He looked at the assembled faces, and took it as a plus that none of them seemed angry or opposed to what he was saying. "Kratos, you didn't want this happen to her either, did you?" he said. "That's why you offered to let her back down. You don't want this, so why are you just going along with it? Is it just because that Lord Yggdrasill guy is making you?" He took Kratos' silence as a yes. "Screw him! He's not the boss of you! Well, ok, maybe he is, but that doesn't mean you can't make your own decisions. If you don't like where things are going, pick yourself up and choose your own path. Come on, guys, don't make me do this alone."

Rebecca was the first to run forward. "I'm with you. Everything about this journey is screwed up. I wouldn't be surprise if it turns out Cruxis was just using Spirit to get this vessel thing all along."

Rowan looked to the others. He was perfectly willing to head into the holy city with just Rebecca at his side if that's what he had to do, but he'd appreciate their help. He just couldn't stand by and do nothing when he knew that this wasn't what Spirit would have wanted. Maybe this was her destiny, but it wasn't one either of them liked and he saw no reason to play along with it.

"What the hell," Shea said, stepping forward. "Let's do this."

Pierce followed closely behind. "Just to make things clear, I think you're all insane. But, I do like the idea of bringing Spiritua back and letting her make a more informed decision. Besides, I couldn't live with myself if I stood back and let you kids run into danger on your own."

It was down to Kratos and Yuan. They were the most important ones to get on his side. If they opposed him, Rowan knew they could probably kill them all without much effort or at the very least alert Lord Yggdrasill that they were coming. He was counting on the fact that neither of them had looked overly thrilled upon Spiritua's sacrifice.

"We don't know how to bring her soul back," Yuan said. He looked to Kratos. "It's impossible, isn't it?"

Kratos shrugged. "I admittedly know very little about the process. Yuan is the one who pioneered the technology. It could theoretically be possible to reverse the flow of mana, although I worry about the negative side effects that could lead to…" Kratos muttered something, and the only part Rowan caught was, "exploding angels."

"Please, guys," Rowan said. "I just want to save my sister. What would Martel do? If she isn't the kind of goddess who would want to save one innocent girl, then I don't think she's worth worship."

Kratos spoke slowly, more to Yuan than anyone else. "I think we both know what Martel would want."

Yuan's face was torn with indecision. "We can't know for sure… if we could talk to her just once…"

"Yuan," Kratos said, with a gentleness to his voice Rowan wasn't used to hearing, "have you really forgotten what she stood for?"

Yuan's whole body slumped. "You're right, of course. I just… I wanted to see her so badly…"

Rowan didn't have a clue what they were talking about, but if it got Yuan on his side, he didn't care.

Yuan sighed, and rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't know if we can bring her back to the way she was before all this started. I'm fairly certain I can prevent her from becoming Martel's vessel, though." He looked to Rowan apologetically. "It would probably kill her, but it would prevent her body from being used."

"That's not good enough," Rowan said.

"I'm sorry, that's all I know," Yuan said.

"Well, figure something out!"

"I can't figure it out just standing here," Yuan snapped. "I could probably work something out if I had the technology and the Chosen in front of me."

"We'd better get going, then," Rowan said.

"I can't believe we're doing this," Yuan said as he and Kratos walked up to the others. As a group, they walked toward the warp.

"Once we reach the holy city," Pierce said to Rowan, "what is your plan?"

"Er… I don't exactly have one," he said. He looked between Kratos and Pierce. "What do you guys think we should do? You guys are better at strategy than me."

"Hm…" Kratos said. "Well, obviously we're going to need to distract Yggdrasill. Give me a couple minutes to think out a more detailed plan."

Rowan nodded. He could hardly believe they were doing this, and waiting just one minute more to launch a rescue for Spirit was killing him, but it would probably be pretty stupid to run in without a plan. Stupidity would get him killed, and he couldn't help Spirit then.


	40. Storming the Castle

**Chapter Forty: Storming the Castle**

Kratos and Yuan stood off to the side, debating their course of action in low voices.

"Do you really think it will work?" Yuan asked.

Kratos shrugged. "It's worth a shot. It's far from the most dangerous thing we've ever done. Remember that time in the Temple of Darkness?"

Yuan winced at the memory. "Honestly, I try not to. If Mithos finds out what we're doing, he'll kill us."

"You're exaggerating," Kratos said. "I agree, though, that it would be in our best interests if Mithos doesn't know of our involvement. All we need to do is get the Chosen out of the Tower, and life will be hell for us for the next few decades if Mithos knows we helped her companions accomplish this."

"Alright. If we're really going to do it, then let's do it. For Martel."

Kratos nodded. "Right. For Martel."

They walked back to the group standing around the warp. "We have a plan," he said. "There are three main tasks that need to be carried out."

Yuan said, "First, we need to get the Chosen out of the Hall of the Great Seed, ideally without Lord Yggdrasill realizing we've done so. Kratos and I will take care of that, because we're expected to be in the Hall anyway."

Rowan looked confused. "How would Yggdrasill not know she's gone? Wouldn't the lack of her being there tip him off?"

"We've worked that out," Kratos said. "To make it work, the second thing we need is to get Lord Yggdrasill out of the way. In short, a distraction. Causing a ruckus elsewhere in the facility won't draw him out; he'll simply trust the angel soldiers to take care of it. Someone will have to directly engage him in a fight to draw him out of the room. It will have to be either Rowan or Rebecca."

"Why us?" Rebecca asked.

Yuan said, "Because he needs both of you alive in order to carry on the Mana Lineage. Pierce or Shea he would simply kill in seconds."

"I'll do it," Rowan said.

"Are you sure?" Rebecca said. "I'm not afraid to do it myself. Like Yuan said, he can't exactly kill me."

"This was my idea in the first place," Rowan said. "If someone has to have a fist fight with the leader of Cruxis, it ought to be me."

"If you say so, Ginger."

"Here," Shea said, reaching for the knife in her boot. "We never got your rings back after fleeing Fidalia, so you're going to need some kind of weapon."

"Thanks," Rowan said, looking down at it. "Although, I don't have much experience fighting with a knife."

"You're not trying to win," Rebecca said. "Just flail around and look threatening."

"I guess I can manage that."

"Finally," Yuan said, "the rest of you will need to venture deeper into the Tower and cut off the Hall's supply of mana."

"What do you mean?" Shea asked.

"The Tower of Salvation is supersaturated with mana," Yuan said. "And right now, almost all of it is flowing into the Hall to power the mana transfer system that's using Spiritua as Martel's Vessel. I can shut off the system, but if there's still an overabundance of mana flowing in, it could all flow into her and, uh, explode."

Shea raised her eyebrows. "The mana would explode, or Spirit would explode?"

"Probably both," Yuan said. "Look, we've had some trouble getting this to work. Trust me when I say that explosions are not unheard of during this process, and we definitely don't want Spiritua to explode."

"No," Rowan said. "That's, uh, not ideal."

"What do you need us to do?" Pierce asked.

"It's not difficult," Kratos said. "There are thick wires running down from the room-"

"I wouldn't exactly call them wires," Yuan said. "They're more like roots, about as thick as your arm, and they run up from the tree."

"What tree?" Rebecca asked.

"It's unimportant," Kratos said. They already knew far more about the worlds than they should, and Kratos wasn't about to give them a history lesson on exactly what was going on, because he didn't think telling them who Martel really was would help at all.

"All you have to do is press some buttons," Yuan said. "I set up all the machinery myself, but I made shutting it down pretty easy because I figured it would have to be if something went wrong and Kratos or Yggdrasill had to do it."

Kratos gave Yuan an annoyed look, but he didn't press the issue because he knew Yuan was right. "Does everybody understand what they need to do?" Kratos asked. After all of them nodded, he said, "Very well. Let's proceed."

* * *

Past the warp was a long, brownish hallway. The floor was faintly green and covered in round, geometric patterns, while the walls were made of brown stone. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the hall, which then branches off into more hallways. They all looked more or less the same, and Rebecca was thankful they had Kratos and Yuan to lead the way. She'd gotten lost in her mansion in Meltokio a couple times when she first arrived, but this was just ridiculous.

"Why is it called the Hall of the Great Seed?" Shea asked.

"It's symbolic," Yuan said.

"Of seeds?" Shea said.

"Yes," Yuan said. "You wouldn't understand. It's a Cruxis thing."

Rebecca was fed up with "Cruxis things." Cruxis things were what had effectively killed Spirit, and they would have done the same to her if their worlds were switched. Of course, their worlds _were_ going to be switched. Now that Sylvarant had been regenerated, Tethe'alla was screwed. She felt like an idiot, helping them damn her own world without even realizing it. She didn't know if she would have made a different decision had she known. She hated the thought that Tethe'alla was going to be in trouble, but she couldn't deny that Sylvarant had been in dire straits. Didn't they deserve a chance to flourish? But why couldn't the mana in the world just be split in half and they shared it equally? The way it was now, it came down to a choice between which world filled with thousands of people you wanted to screw over, and there was no good option.

Kratos and Yuan paused next to a door which, when opened, revealed a flight of stairs. "This is where we part ways," Kratos said. "It should be easy to find the mana shut off. There's only one direction you can go."

"Where should we rendezvous when we're complete?" Pierce asked.

"Head back to the altar room," Yuan said. "Pierce, you can leave the Tower if you want. Rowan and Spiritua will meet you outside. Those of you going on to Tethe'alla, stick around and we'll switch the warp over when we're done."

"And if anything goes wrong," Rowan said, "Pierce, I guess just… go home. If Spirit and I don't make it out, will you be alright heading back to Cleopolica by yourself?"

"I can manage," he said. "But let's just agree that it won't be an issue."

"Deal."

"Good luck," Rebecca said. "Don't, you know, die."

"Be careful," Shea said. "Don't be an idiot. I'll see you in the altar room."

"You guys be careful, too," Rowan said.

"Don't worry about us," Rebecca said. "We just need to push a button. See you later, Ginger."

Pierce led the way down the stairs. The staircase was long, and when they finally reached the bottom, they turned the tight corner and found another staircase leading even farther down. There wasn't much light in the stairwell, and in a few places thin roots poked through cracks in the walls. She wondered if they had anything to do with the tree Yuan had mentioned, or if it just meant that they were underground now and roots from normal trees were intruding on the Tower. There was a door at the bottom of this stairway, and past that was another hallway. Like Kratos had said, there was only one way to go.

They walked down the hallway in silence, too on edge for idle chitchat. They had to make a few more turns, and eventually they reached a wide archway leading to a huge circular room. They stood on the raised platform looked out at the room, feeling uncertain about crossing such an open space. Rebecca craned her neck to look up at the massive dome above them, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw human figures surrounding the room.

"Look," she said softly, pointing up. "What are they?" About three stories off the ground, alcoves ran around the great domed roof. In each alcove was a winged girl, possibly even more packed in behind them. Their eyes were closed, and they held two swords crossed over their chests.

"Angels, I would assume," Pierce said.

"But Remiel said there were no other angels," Rebecca said.

"I don't think they're alive." Shea said. "They're all exactly the same, and none of them are breathing. They look like empty shells, like Spirit did."

"Why does Cruxis have empty angel shells stored down here?" Rebecca asked. "If they have all these empty bodies, why did they need Spirit?"

"Best not to worry about it," Pierce said. "Let's just hurry onward."

They walked down the steps and into the atrium proper. Rebecca was anxious to get across and get out of here, because all the lifeless angels freaked her out. They started crossing the floor, but they had barely taken a few steps before a thunderous gong rang out. Rebecca nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden noise, but when Pierce reached for his sword, she realized she had different problems.

She looked up, and a thousand angel eyes were now open. They weren't dead; they were dormant, and now they were waking up.

"We can't fight them all," Shea said.

"I know," Pierce said. He glanced to the doorway on the far side of the atrium. "Run!"

* * *

Yuan and Rowan walked across a bridge. Kratos had gone his own way a little while back in order to accomplish his task, leaving Yuan and Rowan alone to approach the Hall of the Great Seed.

Rowan was noticeably more leery on the bridge than Yuan was, likely because he didn't have wings. Yuan distinctly remembered asking Mithos why he didn't bother giving the bridge any safety railings, just like he distinctly remembered Mithos brushing him off and changing the subject. It wasn't a very well made bridge at all, really. Yuan suspected that a few centuries from now, it would crumble just by walking over it. He counted himself lucky to have wings.

At the end of the bridge, they walked up the steps on the side of a raised platform. Set into the wall was an arched doorway. Pillars thicker than Yuan's body were set into the wall around it, reaching up toward the distant ceiling.

"This is it," Yuan said. "Through this door is the Hall of the Great Seed. Yggdrasill and Spiritua are in there. I need to go in and operate the mechanism, so give me five minutes to set up and get Yggdrasill thinking we're going along with it. Then, you come in and get him out of the room. After that, all you have to do is keep him busy for at least fifteen minutes. Don't try to beat him in a fight, just prolong it as long as you can. Do you understand?"

Rowan nodded. "Yeah, I can do that.

"Alright. Good luck."

The doors slid open, and Yuan strode into the hall. The doors clicked shut behind them, and Mithos looked over his shoulder at him. "So you're finally here. What took you so long?"

"Sorry," Yuan said, forcing himself to remain casual. "Got held up with some angel crap."

"And where's Kratos?"

"Busy with the aforementioned angel crap." He was hoping Mithos would be so preoccupied with Martel and Spiritua that he wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Whatever. We don't need him."

His gamble had paid off. Yuan walked over to the computer console that controlled the mana transfer mechanism. When he looked down, though, he saw that it had already been turned on. He looked over to Mithos, "Did you initiate the mana transfer process?"

For once sounding like a child caught wetting the bed, Mithos said, "…Yes. I've watched you start it enough times, and I was anxious to get going. I didn't think you'd take so long to get here to monitor it." Hesitantly, he added, "Is it still going to work?"

Yuan restrained a sigh of frustration. "Yes, it's fine," he said through gritted teeth. It was fine for Mithos, at least. Once the process was started, all he needed to do was monitor the mana inflow and adjust the controls if it started flowing too quickly or slowly. What it meant for their plan, though, was that they now had a time limit. He had been planning to postpone actually starting the process as long as he could, but if the mana was already flowing into Spiritua, he couldn't put off reversing it for very long, whether or not the others had shut off the mana source or not.

He could deal with this. He was the best computer operator in the world – a feat helped along by the fact that he was the inventor of computers. He could slow the process down enough to buy them time.

He typed a few commands into the computer, slowing down the mana transfer just enough so that Mithos wouldn't notice. Thick, twisting cords connected it to the pod in which Spiritua lay. It wasn't really her right now, though. She was just an empty shell. Her face was serene and her eyes closed, and if he didn't know any better, Yuan might have thought she was sleeping.

Martel also looked like she was sleep. She hovered in the air in a haze of green light, her hair drifting as if she were underwater. She was still the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. Was he doing the right thing by helping Spiritua? If this would give Martel the chance to speak one last time, to tell Mithos her true wishes and to give Yuan a proper goodbye, was he doing the wrong thing by stopping it? Even if Martel would never stick around in a stolen body, if he could just have the chance to hold her again, to hear her say his name, to have her for just five minutes… it would be everything he'd ever dreamed of.

But in the end… he knew that even though bringing her back was everything he could ever want, even though it would make Mithos happier beyond his wildest dreams and even Kratos might actually smile, he knew in his heart that this was not what Martel wanted. He looked up at Martel's face, silently asking her for advice. He didn't know what she would want him to do in the long run other than work for Mithos, but here and now he could save the life of an innocent girl, and maybe that was enough.

In the corner of the screen, a graphic displayed the amount of mana pumping into the hall to power it. It was infuriatingly still in the green. What was taking the others so long? They should have reached the shut-off terminal by now. Why could he never rely on anyone else to get things done in a timely manner?

A couple minutes passed. Mithos was too distracted by Martel to pay much attention to how frustrated Yuan was. He practically skipped around the room in his eagerness, while Yuan pounded the keyboard with much more force than was necessary and swore under his breath. Martel's mana was steadily being drained into Spiritua, and Yuan could only slow it down so much.

The doors to the room slid open again, and Yuan looked up to see Rowan run in. Dammit, not yet! To be fair, Rowan _had_ waited five minutes like he'd been told, but Rebecca and the others had yet to complete their task so Yuan couldn't do anything with the distraction yet anyway.

Mithos saw Rowan enter as well. "What are you doing here?" he said crossly.

Rowan shouted something unintelligible and lunged at Mithos with a knife. Seconds before Mithos blasted him aside, Rowan dodged out of the way and narrowly avoided Mithos' blow. He skidded out of the way and bumped into the pod Spiritua was in. This was actually good, because it gave Yuan an excuse to shout, "Get him out of here before he breaks something!"

"I'll kill you!" Rowan shouted, charging at Mithos again.

"Would you stop?!" Mithos yelled back. "I don't want to kill you, stupid human." He caught Rowan's arm and twisted it, and then tossed Rowan toward the door with enough force to send him flying through the air. He hit the ground hard enough to make Yuan wince just watching, and rolled a few feet out the door.

"Keep him out of here," Yuan said. "This is a delicate operation and he's going to mess something up."

"Ugh," Mithos said, walking toward Rowan. "Where's Kratos when you need him?"

"Well, he's not here," Yuan snapped, "so you're going to have to take care of him yourself. Be careful not to injure him too badly; you don't want to do anything that will interfere with his ability to pass on the Mana Lineage."

"I know," Mithos replied in irritation.

Rowan shakily got to his feet, blood dripping from his lip and Yuan didn't even want to imagine the bruise he'd have on his temple tomorrow. "I won't let you get away with this," Rowan said, with a bit less force than before. Yuan couldn't blame him; it was hard to put a lot of force into you speech when you were still trying to get breath back into your lungs.

"Get out of here, you worm." Mithos grabbed Rowan by the collar and threw him back again. He followed him out of the room and the doors slid shut.

Yuan grimaced, not wanting to imagine the ass-kicking Rowan was about to receive. He didn't know how long Rowan could hold Mithos off, but if the mana didn't get shut off soon, his sacrifice would be useless. As soon as Mithos came back, their chances of getting Spiritua out of here would quickly approach zero.

"What is your status?" Kratos said, appearing on the stone ledge surrounding the Hall of the Great Seed with an angel in tow. He'd taken the long way around and flown down from Welgaia through the purple-tinged clouds surrounding the hall.

"Not good," Yuan said, not even looking up as Kratos flew down to the ground and walked over to him. "I don't know what's taking the others so long, but I can't do anything until the mana gets shut off."

"We don't have much time," Kratos said, glancing to the door Mithos had exited through. "Rowan won't be able to hold Mithos off for very long."

"You don't have to tell me." He tapped a key a couple times to try and slow down the mana transfer.

"Can we go ahead and reverse the transfer?" Kratos asked.

"We can't-"

"I'm just worried about our time limit," Kratos said. "Maybe in the time it takes for Martel's mana to exit, the mana will be shut off. We can't put off the reversal very much longer."

Kratos was right, of course. Yuan glanced at the time; Rowan had kept Mithos out for a minute already. Yuan frowned, taking a deep breath and weighing their options. If they put this off any longer, Mithos was likely to return and demand they carry on transferring Martel into Spiritua. If they acted right now, the mana might get shut off just in time and save Spiritua, or Spiritua would likely be killed, sparing her from becoming Martel's vessel at the very least.

He sighed. There was really only one option. He flipped a switch, opened a new window and typed in an override code, and pressed enter. A few lights flashed yellow, and the mana started flowing in the opposite direction.

Kratos looked over his shoulder at the screen. "Is it working?"

"Yes," Yuan said. He pointed at the percentages and tables on the screen and said, "Look, it says right here where the mana is flowing."

Kratos stared at the numbers. "Sure it does."

Yuan rolled his eyes. Kratos was a very intelligent man, but for some reason he just couldn't wrap his head around a computer. "Now we just have to pray to Origin that the mana shuts off in time, or else we will be facing the very real possibility of an explosion."

* * *

Rebecca ducked under an angel's sword and then continued running down the spiral staircase. The narrow path spiraled around the huge room, leading down to a bridge that crossed a black chasm. The angels had chased them all the way from the atrium, and Rebecca was exhausted from running. They'd killed a lot of them, but for every angel they struck down, two more took its place.

Shea reached the ground and took off across the bridge. There was a door on the other side, and Rebecca wondered if maybe they could barricade it and keep the angels out. She already had a variety of cuts and injuries from narrowly missed sword swipes, and she didn't know how much longer they could survive.

She followed Shea across the bridge, and the clanking of armour told her Pierce was right behind. The angels, not having to take the stairs or the bridge, were already ahead of them, threatening to block their path. Shea took one look at them hovering in the air before her, and threw herself to the ground, sliding under them and through the doorway. Rebecca followed suit, hearing her dress rip on the rough stone floor. As soon as she was past, she leapt to her feet and slashed at the angels' backs with her sword, striking down just enough to create an opening for Pierce.

"How much farther… do you think… it is?" Shea panted as they dashed down yet another corridor. Her shirt was stained with blood from the sword wounds she'd received.

"Just ahead," Pierce said. Luckily, in this narrow corridor the angels couldn't all swarm at them. They'd tried to all enter at once, and ended up smashing into each other and clogging the entrance. That was the one good thing about them; there might be thousands of them, but they were impossibly stupid. Rebecca didn't think they had minds of their own the way people did; they reminded her of a furious hive mind, like a kicked hornet nest.

Ahead of them was a metal door. They had to slow down to open it, giving the angels time to catch up, but as soon as they were through, Pierce slammed it shut and put his back against it, bracing himself with the ground. The door thudded as a hundred angels crashed into it. The door was strong, and Pierce's face strained with the effort of holding it closed.

"The terminal is in the middle of the room," he said, gesturing with his head at a computer system. "Go!"

Rebecca and Shea ran up to it. Rebecca had only seen a computer a couple times, in the wealthiest of Tethe'allan mansions when they were trying to show off to her. She understood the basics of them, and if Yuan was right, this shouldn't be too difficult.

She pressed a button labelled 'on' and stared at the greenish-blue screen. She was met with text across the top that asked, 'What do you want to do?' The listed options were 'Open locked doors', 'Collapse floor (experimental; KRATOS KEEP OUT)', and 'Shut down mana power source.'

"I don't mean to rush you," Pierce said, "but you need to go faster." The door creaked, threatening to break open any second now. Rebecca's heart pounded and she was afraid she'd make a mistake in her haste. She had no idea how they were going to get out of here after shutting down the mana, but at the very least they could help Rowan get out with Spirit.

She tabbed down to the third one and pressed enter. As Yuan had said, it looked incredibly simple. There was a screen that said, 'Do you want to shut down mana to the Hall of the Great Seed?' and two options, 'Yes', and 'No.'

With a thunderous crush, the door smashed open and a wave of angels flowed into the room. Pierce shouted as he was smashed between the door and the wall, which at least protected him from being cut down by the angels. Rebecca smashed her hand on the keyboard hard enough to almost crack it, and clicked 'Yes', a split second before turning around and throwing her hands in the air and screaming, "We surrender! Don't kill me, I'm the Chosen!"

The angel coming toward her stopped, and stared at her with what might have been confusions if they actually were capable of facial expressions. The angels surrounded them, not sure how to proceed with this new revelation. Another angel, presumably a leader because she was one of the only ones with a slightly different outfit came forward. She might have been a leader, but she didn't seem any more human than the others. She stared at Rebecca with a blank face and then said, "Confirmed. This human is the Tethe'alla Chosen of Mana. Deliver her alive to the nearest authority. Kill the other trespassers."

Shea stepped back as an angel raised its sword at her. Desperate to keep Shea and Pierce alive, Rebecca blurted, "I'll kill myself!"

The angels stopped again and the lead angel stared at her. Rebecca rushed onward, "If you kill my friends, I will be so overcome with grief that – that I'll bash my head against the floor and die! And then your Chosen will be dead and that is against your orders, right?"

The angels didn't seem to know what to make of this conundrum. The leader, deciding that failing to follow the order to kill trespassers was less important than the order to not kill the Chosen, said, "Escort all human prisoners to nearest authority to receive further orders."

Rebecca sighed in relief. She knew it was a temporary victory, because whoever the nearest authority was would probably just kill Shea and Pierce then restrain Rebecca so she couldn't harm herself, but this had bought them a few minutes to think of a better plan. Best of all, she'd pressed 'Yes' before the angels had stopped them, making it possible for Yuan to save Spiritua.

With more swords pointed at them than Rebecca could count, the angels led their prisoners out of the computer room. Rebecca risked taking one last look at the screen. When she did, her heart stopped.

On the screen were the words, 'To confirm your choice, type the letters in the picture below.' The mana hadn't been turned off after all.

* * *

Rowan hit the ground for about the tenth time. Every time, he took a bit longer to get back to his feet. This time, it took about five seconds. He pushed himself into a sitting position and wiped blood from his lip with his sleeve. His chest heaved and his limbs shook from exhaustion. He'd been fighting for around fifteen minutes, although 'fighting' might not be the best word. It carried implications of an equal exchange of attacks, whereas this was more like him getting beaten down over and over without inflicting any damage of his own. The only reason he wasn't dead yet was that Yggdrasill couldn't risk killing him, but if this went on too much longer, that might be unavoidable.

His knees shook and his head spun, but he got back to his feet anyway.

"Are you _still_ going to keep this up?" Yggdrasill said.

"Are you still going to kill Spirit?"

"She isn't _dying_, per se," Yggdrasill said.

"I'll take that as a yes." He gripped his knife as tightly as he could and made a run for Yggdrasill yet again. Yggdrasill rolled his eyes, raised his hand, and a blast of energy knocked Rowan backwards. He skidded across the bridge on his back, and lay still for a moment until the stars faded from his eyes.

"You know," Yggdrasill said, "I've heard it said that the sign of true insanity and doing the same things over and over again and expecting a different result."

Rowan panted for breath, staring up at the distant ceiling. He knew this fight wasn't going to end in defeat for Yggdrasill, but keeping him distracted was his job. He wasn't good at coming up with plans, he wasn't good at negotiating , or with operating technology, or even with dealing with people. But he'd put his trust in Kratos and Yuan to organize their plan, and his job was to keep Yggdrasill out of the Hall of the Great Seed, and by Origin he was going to do it. Maybe having a high tolerance for getting hit wasn't much of a boastful skill, but it came in handy every now and then.

"You're doing the…" he panted for breath, "same thing… too. Heh, why not… let me win… for once?" He got to his feet again, ready for round twelve.

Yggdrasill approached him, which took Rowan off-guard. Usually, Yggdrasill stood near the door to the Hall of the Great Seed, waiting for Rowan to fail to get up so he could return to the Hall. "Perhaps you're right," Yggdrasill said, stopping before him on the bridge.

Rowan glared up at him defiantly, wondering if it was worth his effort to try and stab him. From this close, he got a clear view of the green crystal on his chest. It was probably similar to the one Spirit had, and he wondered why Yggdrasill still had his voice and everything when Spirit didn't. It wasn't fair at all.

"Knocking you down over and over is getting tiring," Yggdrasill said.

Rowan took a shot at using his knife. It couldn't hurt, could it? He jerked his hand toward Yggdrasill's chest, but as expected, he easily blocked the blow. He gripped Rowan's wrist tightly and twisted it to the side until Rowan gasped in pain and the knife fell from his fingers. It bounced on the edge of the bridge and then plummeted into the abyss below.

"You're not going to beat me," Yggdrasill said. "Isn't that obvious? What can you possibly hope to achieve from this?" Yggdrasill wasn't even out of breath, and sounded more annoyed with the fight than anything else.

"You wouldn't understand," Rowan growled, "because you're a heartless bastard, but that's my sister in there and I can't walk out and leave her."

Yggdrasill's eyes narrowed in anger, and his other hand shot out and gripped his throat. "You understand nothing, you insignificant human."

Rowan had obviously hit a nerve with that last remark, although he couldn't fathom a guess as to why. Regardless, Yggdrasill tightened his grip around Rowan's neck, cutting off his air. "This is a rather messy way of putting you down," Yggdrasill said. "I would rather not have to get my hands dirty, but if I don't knock you out soon you're going to get yourself killed and then we'll have to find a new heir Mana Lineage."

"Get bent," Rowan grunted, before giving up on talking to concentrate on getting Yggdrasill off of him. He was so exhausted and made out of one giant bruise that prying his fingers off proved to be futile. Yggdrasill was much too strong for him, not even needing a second hand to keep him suspended in the air by the throat. Rowan kicked and struggled, determined not to let Yggdrasill win yet. Kratos and Yuan weren't done with Spirit yet. He couldn't let them down. This was his one job to keep Yggdrasill distracted, and he wasn't going to let them down. He needed to prove he could be a useful member of the team; he couldn't fail now!

"Maybe it would be easier for me if I did crush your throat," Yggdrasill said. "I can see someone like you being disagreeable to the continuation of our plans."

He didn't have much hope for it happening, but he wished Kratos would come outside and step in. Kratos was always there to pull him out of tough scrapes, but Kratos was dealing with Spiritua right now, as he should be. Rowan didn't want him to have to ignore Spirit to come save him, again. He didn't want to be the one who got saved all the time. He was going to have to think of a plan quickly, though, because he didn't have much air left.

Dammit, he wasn't any good at plans! He just _did_ things, and they usually ended up working out. He wasn't a tactician or an experienced warrior; he was just a fisherman and he was in way over his head. He managed another strangled gasp of breath. His coat still smelled like fish, probably worse now than ever after spending the night in the ocean with him. Everyone else found the smell of fish objectionable, but to him it smelled like home. He was alright if the last breath of air he ever got was a reminder of peaceful days before this whole debacle started, where all he had to worry about was hooking some fish on a line.

An idea tugged at his mind, and he reeled it in before it could slip away. It wouldn't work. It was the only idea he had, though, so he might as well try it.

He reached his hand into his pocket and his fingers curled around an old, beat up fish hook. Dried fish guts clung to its bent form, but the tip was still sharp. With it tucked securely between his fingers like a claw, he whipped his hand out of his pocket and lashed at Yggdrasill's chest, catching him off-guard. The hook cut through his skin and then caught under the edge of the golden crest surrounding his crystal.

Yggdrasill looked down in surprise at the sudden pain, and with all the strength he could, Rowan dug the hook deeper under the metal casing. His fingers were bloody but he could tell it was working, even if he didn't know exactly what he was going. Yggdrasill loosened his grip and dropped Rowan to the floor, which was a mistake because this caused the hook in his hand to plunge downward and widen the wound.

"Stop it!" Yggdrasill sounded, sounding oddly like a child.

This was his only chance. If Yggdrasill got his grips together again, he'd probably kill Rowan instantly. The threat of his impending death egged him onward, and he twisted the hook, prying it up, ripping the crest from Yggdrasill's flesh. Blood ran in rivulets down his chest , staining his white jumpsuit. The crystal flashed with light, Yggdrasill shouted in pain, and then what felt like an electric shock raced through his arm and forced him to jerk his hand back.

Yggdrasill screamed, getting a much larger brunt of the shock of mana racing out of the crystal through the damaged crest. The hook was still buried in his chest when he slumped to the ground, unconscious.

About a minute passed. Rowan rested on his knees, catching his breath. He was pretty sure that if one were to do a comprehensive study of his body, the only location that wouldn't be found to be bruised, bleeding, or otherwise aching would be the tip of his elbow, and that was with a generous definition of "not sore." But, every throbbing ache and pain was a tiny signal saying "you're still alive," so he supposed he could deal with it.

* * *

Rebecca followed the angels through the twisted corridors, with Shea and Pierce close behind. They were alive for now, but what would happen once they reached the nearest authority figure? Surely whoever that was wouldn't be as easy to manipulate as these mindless goons. They had to figure out an escape plan before they reached their destination, or Pierce and Shea were going to be killed. The worst part was, they hadn't even managed to accomplish their task. They'd let everyone down, and all because of one stupid security confirmation.

They had already gone up several flights of stairs and walked down more empty hallways than Rebecca could count. They were thoroughly lost, and an effective method of execution might be to let them go free and wait for them to starve to death. They stopped at a door. She took deep breath; this was it. They hadn't worked out an escape plan yet, and Pierce and Shea were about to be killed. She cast them a quick, apologetic look. Shea responded with a tight, sad-eyed smile, while Pierce gave her an understanding nod, to let her know he didn't hold any of this against her.

They opened the door, and were met with another angel sitting at a desk, looking through a thick, leather-bound book.

The head angel of their party stepped forward and spoke up. "Lord Remiel, we have captured intruders. Shall we kill the non-Chosens?"

Remiel looked up at them in surprise. "What in the world are you doing here?"

"We, uh, we wanted to rescue Spiritua," Rebecca said lamely.

"That was very foolish of you," Remiel said.

"We figured that out," she said.

Remiel looked to the angels. "Don't kill them. I'm sure this is just a simple misunderstanding." He stood up, straightened his robe, and said, "You may leave us."

"Yes, sir." The angels turned and filed out, leaving Rebecca, Shea, and Pierce staring at Remiel in amazement.

No one could think of something to say, so Pierce defaulted to, "Thank you. We were certain we were seconds from being executed."

"It's no trouble," Remiel said. "After all, we're companions, right? You really shouldn't be here, though."

"We know," Shea said. "We were just so concerned about Spirit…"

"Yes, I understand." Remiel patted her on the arm. "I know these divine matters must seem so ineffable to you humans. Let me show you to the exit."

The exit was actually the exact opposite of where they wanted to go. Maybe they could still make it back to the control room in time to shut the mana off. They would never be able to find their way back from here, though. Their best chance was to follow Remiel to the exit, and then ditch him and head back once they knew where they were.

A few corridors and staircases later, they had reached the exit. It was the same place where they had first warped here from the altar room.

"Ok, excellent," Remiel said. "The warp is set to Sylvarant, so just let me adjust it a bit so I can send you and Shea to Tethe'alla…" He turned his back to them and started pressing buttons on the wall.

Rebecca glanced at Pierce, who held a finger to his lips and silently lifted his sword. While Remiel had his back turned, muttering to himself, Pierce smacked him in the back of the head with the hilt of his sword. Remiel let out a quick, "Oh!" and then slumped to the ground.

"I feel kind of bad," Shea said, frowning. "We did help us, after all."

"It is regrettable," Pierce said. "But he does work for our enemy, and it had to be done. I don't think I caused any permanent damage."

Shea knelt next to Remiel and reached for his wrist, quickly taking his pulse. "He seems to be alright," she said. "Do you think we have time to make it back to the mana shut off room?"

"We have to try," Rebecca said.

"Right," Pierce said. "Let's hurry." They ran down the hall, desperate to make it in time.

* * *

Kratos didn't know very much about computers, but he was fairly certain flashing red lights were not a good sign. Yuan's panicked state as he frantically typed commands was another key indicator. So even though Kratos wouldn't have been able to explain why something bad was happening if his life was on the line, he could tell that the procedure was going very wrong.

He wanted to help, but he also knew that this was a technical issue and he could best help by staying out of the way. This made him feel helpless and useless, which he wasn't very familiar with and wasn't sure he liked at all. All he could do was watch his old friend flail around at the computer or water glowing beads of light flow into Spiritua. Yuan had tersely explained that Martel was completely out of Spirit now, so this was pure mana rushing in, taking advantage of her hollowed out body.

Kratos hadn't been here to witness the experiments Yuan and Mithos had performed on angels, but he had a sinking feeling that this was how they had ended. To be more apt, they ended with the mana overflowing until the subject, in this case spirit, ended up a bloody stain on the sides of the capsule. It infuriated him to think that after everything they'd been through, Spirit was about to die right here in a bloody explosion, while he did nothing but stand back and watch. This had been a mistake from the very beginning. They never should have tried the Journey of Regeneration with a Chosen so young; he should have stopped her from ever accepting that damned Cruxis Crystal.

He thought for a moment, then said, "What if you redirected all the mana into the Cruxis Crystal?"

"Don't be stupid, Kratos," Yuan snapped, not even looking up. "I can't do that because… unless…" A spark glinted in his eyes and his typing became, if possible, even more frenzied. "If I make that into a function and remap the anatomical design to indicate the crystal as the centre, or even the whole… I might be able to…" Explaining took up too much energy, so his babbling ceased as he dove into his work. This was just as well, since Kratos hadn't understood what he was talking about anyway.

Kratos watched Spirit, eager for any change. At first he didn't notice anything, but then realized that the crystal on her chest was glowing bright. He looked to Yuan. "Is it working?"

"Too early to call," Yuan said, glancing up at Spirit. "But it looks like it might be… This is really finicky and is going to need a lot of manual control, so stand back and let me finish."

Yuan adjusted knobs and clicked things on his computer, which was apparently doing the job. The Cruxis Crystal grew brighter and brighter, until Kratos had to look away. It was nearly white, and the air shimmered around it.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" he asked.

"It's the only thing I can do," Yuan said. "It's either flowing into the crystal or into her, and if it flowed into her for much longer, she was going to burst."

"The crystal is already full of mana," Kratos said. "What would happen if it burst?"

"Uh…" Yuan looked up from his computer, his face bathed in white light from Spirit's glowing crystal. "I think we're about to find out."

A second later, a deafening explosion rocked the room and pure white light erupted into space, illuminating the dark void around the room. The force of the mana eruption knocked Kratos off his feet, and he heard shattering glass and some thuds.

When the light dimmed, he slowly got to his feet and rubbed his eyes. "Yuan?"

"I'm fine," Yuan responded, rising from behind the computer console. "The Chosen?"

Kratos heard a cough, and ran to the capsule Spirit lay in. All the wires that had connected her to the mana source had ripped in the explosion, and hung uselessly like dead snakes. The glass lid had shattered, thankfully outward so it hadn't speared Spirit. Kratos was more concerned with the bloody results of the explosion on her chest. The Crystal had completely burst, leaving a few chunks of red rock and twisted, broken Key Crest embedded in her flesh. Her whole chest was covered in blood from where the Crystal had ripped off.

Kratos panicked for a second, and then remembered that he knew how to heal. Well, sort of. It would have to do. He concentrated, drawing up all the mana he could. There was a lot of mana hanging in the air, which helped charge him up.

"First Aid." He held out his hand, and green light washed over Spirit's battered chest. The wounds closed, sealing around the twisted remains of the Cruxis Crystal.

"Is she alive?" Yuan asked, standing back by the console."

Her chest rose and fell slightly, and then her eyes flickered open. She stared up at him with confusion, and he didn't have to ask to know that there was a soul staring back at him.

"Yes," Kratos said.

He held out his hand to help her up, but she took a deep breath, smiled, and whispered, "Thank you," before passing out again.

As Kratos lifted her out, Yuan asked, "Did she just speak?"

Kratos nodded. "The Cruxis Crystal is almost entirely gone now. Most of its effects are probably gone as well."

"Huh," Yuan said. "I didn't know you could get rid of a Cruxis Crystal like that."

"I wouldn't recommend trying it again," Kratos said, looking down at Spirit's blood-covered chest.

Yuan wiped sweat from his brow. "Definitely. I'm not even entirely sure why that worked, but to be fair, I'm never sure why my computer programs _don't_ work, either."

The door to the Hall slid open, and both Yuan and Kratos jerked their heads in that direction, wearing matching guilty expressions. Dammit, he'd forgotten about Mithos! In the span of one second, Kratos tried to figure out an explanation as to what had happened to the Chosen.

To his surprise, it wasn't Mithos who came staggering through the door. It was Rowan. Kratos stared at him in confusion. "Rowan?"

"Hey," he mumbled. "Is Spirit ok?"

"She's fine," Yuan said. "More than fine, actually. We think she's at least partially back to normal."

He smiled. "Good."

"Where is Lord Yggdrasill?" Kratos asked.

"Unconscious."

"You… defeated Yggdrasill?"

Rowan shrugged. "I ripped his crystal thing. It seemed to hurt him."

Spiritua wasn't dead and Rowan had defeated Mithos. This day was just full of surprises. "We should get out of here. Yggdrasill may wake up any time now," he said. "Are you able to travel?" Rowan looked exhausted, like he was barely able to stay upright.

"I can walk," he said.

"Alright," Kratos said, looking to Yuan. "Yuan, take care of creating the decoy. I'm going to escort these two back to the warp, and then find what happened to the other three. I'll meet you in Welgaia later."

Yuan nodded, and Kratos left with Rowan. Sure enough, Mithos lay unconscious on the ground in front of the bridge, a bloody mess around the crystal on his chest. Kratos could make out a glint of metal, and saw a fish hook lodged in his chest. He felt a small pang of pity for his old friend.

"What decoy?" Rowan asked as they walked across the bridge.

"We're going to explode an angel," Kratos said. "It might take a while to get the machine working again, but once it's exploded into a red mess on the walls, it will be impossible for Mithos to determine whole the remains belong to. He will be under the impression that Spiritua is dead, and will not pursue you."

Rowan frowned. "You're killing someone as a decoy?"

"Just an angel," Kratos said. "They are, for all intents and purposes, already dead. There are no souls in their bodies."

"If you say so."

They didn't talk any more for the rest of the journey. Kratos wasn't keen on chatting under normal circumstances, Spirit was asleep, and Rowan was too worn out from his fight with Mithos to put any energy into talking. The silence gave Kratos a chance to think, and wonder what his next step would be. Obviously Mithos would be furious about their failure, but maybe they could use this to convince Mithos to wait a while before trying the Journey of Regeneration again.

He would probably be assigned to assist with transferring the ranches to Tethe'alla. Everything needed to be packed up, new Cardinals needed to be assigned, ranch locations in Tethe'alla needed to be selected… there was a lot to do. At the very least, it would interrupt the boredom of hanging around Welgaia all the time.

"Kratos!"

He looked ahead, and saw Rebecca running toward them, with Pierce and Shea close behind. Good, they weren't dead. He'd been concerned that something had happened when they didn't shut off the mana.

"Is that Spirit?" Rebecca asked when they met up. "Is she ok? Oh, Origin, we didn't shut off the mana, I am _so_ sorry. We tried, but we got stopped by angels! Is she dead? Dammit, if she's dead it's our fault-"

"Chosen," Kratos said forcefully, cutting her off. "Spiritua is alive and well."

"Are you sure?"

"Calm down," Pierce said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "She's clearly breathing. None of us appear to have been seriously injured in this endeavour, which is something to be thankful for."

To their left, Rowan and Shea were busy reuniting with a lot more hugging and kissing than the rest of them felt like participating in. It concluded in a First Aid for Rowan, and then Shea said, "If there's nothing else to do here, we should get back to the warp."

Kratos nodded. "Yggdrasill is taken care of for now, but it likely won't last long. I recommend you get out of the Tower as quickly as possible and then put as much distance between it and you as possible."

They hurried down the hall. Kratos' mind kept going back to Mithos, and wondering if he'd regained consciousness yet. Had Yuan fixed the mana transfer machine in time to create a decoy for Spirit? He wouldn't be comfortable that they were safe until they were out of the Tower and Mithos no longer cared about them.

Finally, he saw the glowing light of the warp at the end of the hall. Next to it was Remiel's unconscious body, which Pierce explained quickly and with more than a few hints of guilt.

"This warp will take you to the altar room," Kratos said. "From there, take the next war down to the entry and you can walk out the front door. After that, run."

"What about us?" Rebecca asked, glancing to Shea. "We need to go to Tethe'alla."

"Do you really want to stick around and explain to Lord Yggdrasill what you were doing here and what role you played? He won't kill you, Rebecca, but I can't say the same for Shea. Go with the others, and when this is all sorted out, I will come fetch you."

Shea nodded. "That sounds like a sensible plan."

Kratos passed Spirit to Pierce to carry. "I will likely meet at least some of you again in the future, but in the case that a different representative of Cruxis comes in my place, this is goodbye."

"Thank you," Rowan said, looking to his sister. "I really mean it. We couldn't have saved Spirit without you and Yuan."

Kratos nodded. He'd already said his goodbyes the last time he thought he was leaving the group in Triet, and didn't feel the need to prolong this. "I wish you luck. Rebecca, Shea, I will look for you in Cleopolica or Luin. Goodbye for now." They all stepped onto the warp, and seconds later, they disappeared.

There was no point in heading back to the Hall of the Great Seed; Yuan didn't need his help and he'd only have to explain to Mithos why he was there. Instead he headed back to Welgaia, where he would enjoy some peace and relaxation in his apartment for the first time in what felt like ages. He was quite content to put this entire journey behind him.

* * *

"So…" Lloyd said, looking up from the bed in the hotel room, "is that it? Is that how it ends?"

"I hope so," Raine said. "It's already quite late."

They had all planned to go to sleep early tonight so they would be at their peak condition when they went to break Alice out tomorrow evening. But, then Kratos had gotten to the part where they all decided to break into Welgaia and rescue Spiritua, and Lloyd, Genis, Sheena, and Zelos refused to let him stop until they heard how this would end.

"Not quite," Kratos said. "There were still a few snags to work out, but I'll go into more detail tomorrow."

"Like what?" Genis asked. "Can you at least give us a hint?"

"Chiefly among our concerns," Kratos said, "is that Yuan came to talk to me in Welgaia later that day. Mithos was fine; a bit sore but the damage was ultimately fixable. He had been thoroughly fooled by the angel decoy, and was under the presumption that Spiritua was indeed dead. However, Yuan came to inform me that there had been a slight mistake when the others left the Tower. We had completely forgotten to account for the fact that Remiel had adjusted the settings to send Rebecca home. Spiritua and the others all came out of the tower in Tethe'alla."


	41. A Whole New World

**Chapter Forty-One: A Whole New World**

Mithos was in a rotten mood. In fact, his mood was such that it might be presented as a case study to other bad moods as an example of what they might aspire to. Kratos and Yuan had gone out of their way to avoid him all morning, and he didn't even try calling a meeting despite the fact that there were several issues that needed to be addressed.

So far, the only matter he had addressed was Remiel. Remiel had been hoping for a promotion after this mission, but Mithos was less than pleased after he received a complete briefing of what had gone down. From Remiel first slipping up and letting the Chosen's friends know the truth about Martel's vessel and Tethe'alla, to letting Shea and Pierce go without reporting it and setting up the warp that had gotten everyone else sent to the wrong world, Remiel was lucky to still have a position in Cruxis at all. It would probably be a very long time before he was trusted with important matters again, but from what little Kratos had heard from Remiel, the angel wasn't particularly keen on interacting with humans again anyway. Kratos could understand his anger; he had gotten knocked out when he was only trying to help, and not one of his supposed friends had stopped to help him.

Kratos and Yuan were the only ones who weren't in a bad mood, and since Mithos found their lack of obvious despair at the failure to resurrect Martel insulting, they stayed out of his way. So while Mithos sulked, Kratos relaxed in his apartment and read a book, and Yuan went back to meddling with his computers.

Kratos was almost ready to believe that Mithos really would let this all blow over and an angel came knocking at his door later that afternoon. "Lord Yggdrasill is requesting a meeting with you and Lord Yuan," the angel informed him.

"I see," Kratos said. "Thank you."

He should have known better than to hope to avoid this. He ran into Yuan on the way, who said, "Think he's more mad at us or at the Chosen's group?"

"I don't think he knows about our involvement," Kratos said. "…Hopefully."

"Whatever happens, we've got each other's backs, right? Neither of us know anything about what happened."

"Of course," Kratos said. It should go without saying, he thought, that neither of them would try to get out of trouble by throwing the blame on the other. Things may not be the same now as they had been a hundred years ago, but he didn't think there would ever be a time when he and Yuan wouldn't stand together.

They entered the meeting room and found Mithos sitting at the table, his arms crossed and a childish pout on his face. "What took you so long?" he asked.

"We came as soon as we received your message," Kratos said.

"Well, walk faster next time," he said.

Kratos held back a frustrated sigh. There was no point arguing with Mithos when he was like this. He and Yuan sat down at the table across from him. "So, Mithos, what do you plan to do about the Chosen's party in Tethe'alla?"

Mithos frowned, thought a bit, and said, "I've been thinking about that all day, and I think I've come up with a solution. This Chosen of Mana was obviously a failure," his scowl deepened, "which means we obviously aren't close enough to a perfect match yet. So, what if we combined the two Chosen Lineages? If _both_ parents have the Mana Lineage, the child would be even closer, right?"

Kratos was pretty sure he knew where Mithos was going with this, but Yuan was the one to speak up first. "Hang on," Yuan said, "are you suggesting we leave the Chosen's brother in Tethe'alla and pair him up with Tethe'alla's Chosen?"

"It makes perfect sense," Mithos said. "Their child will be a huge step closer to a perfect match for Martel. We can get the mother in Sylvarant to have another kid and start over in Sylvarant while focusing on Tethe'alla. Kratos, I need you to head into Tethe'alla and locate the Chosen and her companions. Inform her of this arrangement and escort them back to Meltokio."

Of course it was going to be his job, Kratos thought. He imagined how he was going to go about telling Rowan and Rebecca they had to get married and have a kid together, and dreaded the upcoming conversation. "What about the others?" he asked.

Mithos shrugged. "I don't care. I have no use for them; it doesn't matter what world they're in. Leave them, kill them, whatever you feel like." He turned to Yuan and said, "Yuan, oversee the creation of a casket for Spiritua. We don't have a body to dispose, but I want _something_. We need a reminder that we failed, to keep moving forward to perfect the process until we can resurrect Martel."

"If you insist," Yuan said. "Should we bury it, or…?"

"Just stick it in the Tower."

"Alright."

"Do you have any idea when the next Journey of Regeneration will be?" Kratos asked.

"Oh, probably a hundred years or so, maybe a bit longer. I switched over the mana flow, but Tethe'alla has a lot more mana built up than Sylvarant did when we first split them." In response to the unasked question Kratos had been considering, Mithos added, "When the time comes, we'll see about which one of you should be sent as an escort. I need to make sure you're not going to get soft-hearted again, Kratos."

"Do you think we should change anything about how we carried out the journey?" Yuan asked, taking the pressure off of Kratos to find a retort. "I think we got very lucky that Spiritua was still willing to go through with the journey after finding out how it ends. Maybe if the Chosen found out when they were much younger and had time to get used to the idea."

"The next Chosen of Tethe'alla will have parents who know the truth," Kratos said. "It will be difficult to keep it a secret regardless."

"Hm…possibly," Mithos said. "I'll think about it. When we get closer to the next journey, we can do a more thorough discussion about what needs to be changed. Until then, that's all for right now. Report back to me when you've both completed your assigned tasks."

They left the room, and as soon as Mithos was out of earshot, Yuan and Kratos exchanged relieved sighs. "We actually got away with it," Yuan said. "It actually is possibly to deceive Mithos."

"Not that we plan on doing it often in the future."

"No, of course not," Yuan said. "He may be a brat, but he is still my friend and almost my brother-in-law. I'm just saying." Yuan sighed. "Do you think Martel would be happy with what we did?"

"I would like to think so," Kratos said. "A girl is alive today who wouldn't be without our interference. I can't see Martel ever thinking that is a bad thing."

"I hope you're right, Kratos," Yuan said. "Well, I guess I had better go figure out that casket thing. Is Noishe going to Tethe'alla with you?"

"No," Kratos said. "He's been sleeping in his birdcage all day and I think he plans to stay there for a while."

"I was thinking, it's going to be so weird when he turns into a dog. I'm so used to him as a bird."

"I know," Kratos said. "That won't be for thousands of years though. Who knows if we'll even still be alive. Hopefully Mithos will have given up this foolish quest by then and moved on."

"Good luck in Tethe'alla," Yuan said when they reached the hallway that branched off toward the warp. "I'll see you when you get back."

"It will hopefully be a much shorter trip than last time."

* * *

Palmacosta was dark. Lloyd crouched behind a bush and kept his eyes glued to the police station. They wanted to get as many of the police officers out of the building before they launched their attack, just in case any of them got hurt. Their initial plan had been to have Sheena and Zelos stage a fight outside to draw them out, but when they saw a lone woman on desk duty, Zelos had proposed a simpler plan.

This plan was less likely to lead to someone accidentally getting hurt or even arrested themselves, and it had the added bonus of being highly amusing to watch. Lloyd couldn't hear what they were saying, but he watched through the window as Zelos leaned forward on the desk casually twirled a strand of his hair around his fingers. Genis snickered, and when Lloyd looked over he mimed gagging.

The woman behind the desk looked around the room and said something.

In a high-pitched voice, Sheena said, "'Oh, Chosen, I couldn't! I have to stay and do my job!'" Then she deepened her voice to mimic Zelos and said, "'Come on, hunny, there's no way your boss could be mad at you with a face like yours.'" She did a high-pitched giggle and said, "'Oh, _Chosen_, how could I say no you? You're just so _manly_! Take me now!'"

Lloyd and Genis clutched their stomachs and scrunched up their faces in an effort not to laugh out loud. The woman circled around the desk to stand next to Zelos and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He led her to the side door, and then snuck out into the alley.

"Let's go," Lloyd said. "We might not have much time."

"Nah," Sheena said. "I think Zelos can drag this out for a pretty long time."

They ran across the street and into the now empty police station. "Look for the keys," Raine said. "They're probably on the desk somewhere." Lloyd opened the desk drawer, seeking the keys to the cells. The party spread out across the office, searching everywhere.

A door to the back room opened. Everyone froze, and turned to see a handful of police officers staring at them in confusion from the break room. Lloyd's heart skipped a beat, and he wanted to kick himself. Of course that woman wouldn't have been the only one in the building.

The man in the doorway said, "What the hell is going on?"

* * *

The setting sun crept behind the unfamiliar mountains to the west. "Are those the Fooji Mountains you're looking for?" Rowan asked Shea, who lay on the ground with her arms under her head.

"I don't know," she said. "Before the worlds split, they were in the southwest, but who knows where they are now."

"Nah, they're not," Rebecca said, looking up from the piece of meat she was toasting over the fire. "The mountains you want are closer to Meltokio, on the other continent. We're actually closer to my hometown, now. It's just over the mountains."

They had stopped to camp on the edge of a forest. Rowan leaned back against a tree trunk, with Spirit leaning against him. She was fast asleep, even though it was still early evening. She had a lot of sleep to catch up on. Every time he looked at her, he couldn't stop a surge of happiness and relief. He'd come so close to losing her, he still couldn't believe she was alright. Well, mostly alright. Last night, when trying to start a fire, she hadn't even noticed that a burning stick had burned her hand until Shea pointed it out and healed it. She also hadn't eaten a thing all day and claimed to still not be hungry. Her Cruxis Crystal might be mostly gone, but it definitely hadn't been a clean removal and it seemed some effects had clung on. They could live with it, though.

What Rowan was more concerned with now was _where_ they were going to live. After leaving the Tower and making a run for it across the grass field, no one had noticed that the grassy field wasn't exactly the same grass field they had entered from. In their rush to get as far away from Cruxis as possible, it wasn't until they hit the forest that they realized something was terribly amiss. Rowan could still remember the painful kick to his chest when Rebecca announced that she recognized the mountains ahead of them and that they weren't in Sylvarant anymore.

Rebecca would go back to her Chosen life in Meltokio, but they would have to keep Spirit far away from any representatives of the church. No one from Cruxis could know she was still alive. Shea would be heading off into the wilderness to find her flower, so for now the plan was for Rowan and Spirit to accompany her. Where they'd go in this strange new world once that was taken care of could be figured out later. Rowan had considered going to the circle of rocks Rebecca had originally come through to get to Sylvarant, but had eventually decided that Tethe'alla would be safer for Spirit. It killed him to think that they would never be able to tell their mother what had happened, but Spirit was too recognizable in Sylvarant to keep her hidden.

"What's that?" Rebecca asked, looking to the sky and pointing.

Rowan followed her finger and saw a glowing light in the sky, getting larger and brighter. He was confused at first, but as it got closer, he made out a silhouette in the middle of the glow. "It's Kratos," he said.

Shea sat up. "What do you think he wants?"

"He said he would come find us," Pierce said, watching Kratos approach with concern. "Although, Rebecca and Shea no longer need transport to Tethe'alla."

"He better not be here with new orders from Yggdrasill," Rebecca said. "If he's changed his mind and is coming for Spirit, I'll knock his lights out."

Rowan nudged Spirit, and when she failed to wake up, gently shook her. "Spirit," he said. "Wake up. Kratos is coming."

She mumbled something in her sleep, and then her eyes flickered open. "Hm?"

"We don't know what he wants," Rowan said. "We might have to run."

She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and looked toward Kratos with a smile. Obviously she had no doubts about Kratos' intent.

They rest of them waited with trepidation as Kratos got closer and closer, and finally landed in front of them. "Good evening," he said.

"What brings you here?" Pierce said.

"A few things," Kratos said, sitting down by the fire so he didn't have to talk down to the seated group. He hesitated a bit, and Rowan felt nervous, wondering what it was he was avoiding saying. "First of all, I contacted the church in the nearest city. Transportation to Meltokio has been arranged for the Chosen. Head east for a couple hours and you will reach this town tomorrow morning."

"Thanks a lot!" Rebecca said. "I was worried we'd have to walk all the way back."

"Secondly," Kratos said, "I wish to grant you my assurance that Lord Yggdrasill is under the belief that Spiritua is deceased. No one will pursue her."

Rowan breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank Origin."

"Thirdly…"

Rowan could tell by his pause that this was the matter he'd been avoiding. Rowan steeled himself, preparing for bad news.

"Lord Yggdrasill has decided that you, Rowan, are to remain in Tethe'alla and to combine your Mana Lineage with Rebecca's."

Rowan and Rebecca stared at him. Pierce and Shea's expressions turned to surprise much faster than Rowan and Rebecca's did, because both of them were still busy working through the implications and subsequent discomfort once the meaning of "combine lineages" sunk in.

Rowan looked to Rebecca, trying hard not to look too horrified. "You want us to… what…?"

"I realize it is not ideal for you," Kratos said. "However, I believe both of you were already aware that an arranged marriage was in your future."

"Well…" Rebecca said grasping at words, "well, yeah, but – but not to _him_!" She quickly looked to Rowan and said, "No offense, Ginger, but I don't want to marry you."

"None taken," Rowan said weakly. "I'm not too thrilled with the idea either."

"I'm afraid this isn't up for discussion," Kratos said. "Yggdrasill has made his decision, and if you fail to comply willingly, he will find ways of forcing you. You may put the people you love in danger if you insist on pursuing other relationships."

He looked to Shea, and Rowan understood immediately. Anger flared up inside him, directed at Yggdrasill rather than Kratos. If he didn't marry Rebecca, Yggdrasill would track him down, track Shea down, and likely find Spirit, too, if he was hunting down Shea. Rowan clenched his fist in frustration. Rebecca was his friend. He had come to terms with the fact that Cruxis would pair him up with a girl who could further the Mana Lineage, but there was a big difference between thinking about having a baby with an anonymous female, and having a baby with _Rebecca_. He couldn't think about her in that way even if he tried! But if he didn't, he would be putting Shea and Spirit in danger. He had seen the lengths Cruxis would go to further their goals, and didn't think his chances of defying them for the rest of his life were very high.

"I guess we have no choice," he said, hanging his head.

Rebecca scowled and crossed her arms. "This is just… just gross. Ugh." She sighed, and said, "You know, Ginger, even if I am your wife, I will have no problem if you want to see someone else."

"This is going to be such a weird marriage," Rowan said.

Kratos looked to the others. "The rest of you are free to go anywhere you wish. Cruxis has no interest in you."

"That's good to know," Shea said. "I'm going to the Fooji Mountains to find that flower," she said. She looked to Rowan and said, "I guess you won't be able to come with me."

"It's alright," Rowan said, taking a deep breath. "We had already decided that you would go on to Tethe'alla without me. But, please take Spirit with you."

"Of course," Shea said. "You're alright with that, right, Spirit?"

Spirit nodded. "Yes. If you are going to make a cure that will save people, I would love to help." She'd been speaking a lot more, Rowan had noticed. Just like she had been catching up on all the sleep she had missed, she seemed to be catching up to all those words she had been unable to say, or perhaps her absence of words had made her appreciate the ability to speak more than ever.

"That's settled, then," Shea said. "Rowan, you and Rebecca go to Meltokio and do your Chosen thing. Spirit and I will travel and create the world's first Panacea, and then who knows where we'll go from there. There are a lot of sick people to cure, after all. What about you, Pierce?"

"I've been thinking about that," Pierce said. "As much as I would like to return to Sylvarant, from what I understand, this world is now on the decline. The Desians will soon make an appearance here and it won't be long before we start noticing the death of the world thanks to lack of mana. Sylvarant, I think, is on the upswing. From now on, Tethe'alla is where help is needed the most. When the Desians do show up, the military will benefit from someone who has dealt with them before. I want to stay here and help this world as much as I can. After all, we are partially responsible for it coming to decline, for we are the ones who reversed the mana."

"You should join the knights in Meltokio," Rebecca said. "I'm sure you'll be able to do a lot of good there."

"I think I will," he said.

"Then if everything is taken care of," Kratos said, standing up, "I think this really is goodbye this time. Rebecca, Rowan, I will likely check in on you at least once or twice before you die. I am going to return to Welgaia, and I wish you all the best of luck in your journeys."

"So long, Kratos," Shea said. "I won't say it's been fun, but… yeah."

Everyone else chorused similar sentiments, the goodbyes and farewells layering on top of each other so Rowan couldn't tell who was saying what. He and Kratos met each other's eyes. They didn't have to say anything, but there was a silent understanding that neither of them really liked the other, but they could both appreciate and acknowledge that the other had a lot more going for them than they had initially given credit.

Spirit was the last to speak, once everyone else's goodbyes faded away. "Kratos," she said, "you saved my life even when you weren't supposed to. I could never repay you for that, so please accept my heartfelt thanks, and pass it on to Yuan, as well. I owe both of you so much."

Kratos nodded. "Nothing else needs to be said. I doubt we will meet again, so I wish you the best of luck for the rest of your life. Farewell, Spiritua."

She smiled, although it was a sad smile. "Bye, Kratos."

He spread his wings and took to the sky. Spiritua watched him go, and then turned with a sigh and sat down again.

"So that's that," Shea said, watching him go. "It's hard to believe it's really over."

"It isn't, really," Spiritua said. "There's a whole new world out there to discover."

"A whole new world for you guys, maybe," Rebecca said. "This is just boring old Tethe'alla to me. But… I am glad that you're going to help us deal with the decline, and a selfish part of me is glad I'll have you lot for company from now on."

"And a whole new batch of Desians to deal with," Pierce said. "I'd love to give them a piece of my mind before they even get their ranches set up. I will not allow the Desians to gain as much power here as they did in Sylvarant. We're prepared, and we can do our best to ensure that Tethe'alla is prepared to deal with the decline as well."

"After all," Rowan said, "saving Sylvarant was getting boring. It's nice to have a new world to try and save."

"And maybe this time," Shea said, "we can do it _without_ you nearly getting yourself killed every other week."

Rowan grinned. "Always with the unreasonable expectations, Shea."

* * *

"I cannot believe this," the chief of police said, crossing his arms and glaring at the gathered group.

This was nothing like getting caught by Desians. When they'd been cornered by Kvar, all Lloyd had felt was angry and, if he had to be honest, fairly frightened. Being caught by the Palmacosta police was just embarrassing, and he felt more ashamed than afraid. He didn't want Palmacosta citizens thinking he was a bad guy or something.

"You're supposed to be heroes!" the chief said. "And this is how you act? Breaking a prisoner out of jail? I might have expected this from some of your lot," his eyes glanced over the half-elves and the Tethe'allans, "but you, and the Chosen Colette, I thought you were on our side!"

"We're really sorry, Mr. Police Chief," Colette said. "But Alice is innocent and we just couldn't sit by and do nothing."

"You have no proof!"

"Yeah, well neither do you," Genis said.

The chief glared at him, and Lloyd worried that he was going to take his frustration out on the nearest available half-elf.

"I'm going to let you off," the chief said, "because you did save the world and I don't' fancy the public outcry if I arrest Lloyd the Hero. I want you to know, though, that-"

Lloyd never did find out what the Chief wanted them to know, because he was interrupted by an explosion. It wasn't exactly an explosion, and more like a blast of energy that swept through the room and knocked everyone off their feet without actually releasing fire and smoke. It did create debris, though, and the wall to the cells, as well as a big chunk of the outside wall and attached ceiling, contributed to said debris.

Lloyds ears rank and the world spun as he tried to figure out what exactly had happened. Genis got to his sense first, and Lloyd heard him yell, "Decus?!"

Lloyd sat up, rubbing his head. Across the room, he saw Decus standing with Alice by his side. Behind them was Brute. "What are you guys doing?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm rescuing my beloved!" Decus said, throwing his arm around Alice's shoulders. Alice promptly shrugged him off.

"Thanks for all your help," Decus said as they started to leave. "I never would have found Brute without you, and he's the one who convinced me to screw the law and rescue my beloved!"

"Let's go," Brute said. "We're wasting time here."

"W-wait," Lloyd said, trying to get to his feet and follow them. He was all for rescuing Alice, but using some sort of powerful arte to blast open the police station was not the way to do it. He could see injured cops lying under the rubble not too far away.

The police chief coughed. "Were you working with that guy?!"

"No!" Lloyd said. "I mean, we've met, but we didn't know what going to do that!"

"Revitalize!" Raine said from behind him, and the blue glow of her magic swept across the station and brought to relief to all the injured. When she was done, she said, "Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine," Sheena said, using a broken half of the desk to push herself to her feet.

"The police chief looked at them with distaste, and then said, "Just… just go. Get out of here. I don't want to you see you hanging around here anymore!"

"It would be wise to do as he says," Regal said.

Lloyd wished there was more he could do to help, but the police were already pretty mad at them, and he didn't want to hang around and give him reason to arrest them. He gave the chief one last apologetic glance, and then filed out after the rest.

As they walked back to the hotel, Zelos said, "Well, that was unexpected."

"Do you think we messed up?" Sheena asked. "We were just trying to help, but then the police got pretty hurt, and I have a bad feeling about Decus and Alice teaming up with Brute. They don't seem very stable."

"We'll stay on guard," Raine said. "It's the best we can do."

"We did our best," Colette said. "And no one was seriously injured. Let's believe in the best of Brute, Decus, and Alice and keep working toward a future where half-elves aren't discriminated and this situation won't even happen again."

"Yes," Raine said. "That is what Genis and I will continue to strive toward as you and Lloyd gather the Exspheres."

"I guess that means we're splitting up again tomorrow," Genis said.

"That's right," Regal said. "Presea and I need to head back to Altamira, and I believe Sheena and Zelos have matters to attend to in Meltokio."

"That's right," Sheena said. "It's been fun, guys, but we do actually have work to do."

"And I have put off leaving long enough," Kratos said.

Lloyd looked at him sadly. After this diversion, he probably wouldn't be able to get any more delays to keep Kratos around longer.

They arrived back at the hotel. "Alright, everyone," Raine said. "Let's all get some rest so we can get up tomorrow and head out in our separate ways."

Lloyd lay down on the bed he was sharing with Genis and Colette. And it was cramped fit, but it was cozy to lie there with his friends. He was going to miss Genis when they separated again tomorrow. It wasn't fair that endings had to mean separations, and he'd have to say goodbye to his father soon, too. Even though Kratos would be far away, Lloyd would manage. Even if they were far away, if he kept his friends in his heart, they'd never really be separated.

* * *

A few weeks later, Lloyd, Kratos, and Colette sat around a campfire near the remnants of the Tower of Salvation. Tomorrow morning, Kratos would leave the planet. It was already late, and the fire was burned down to a few remaining embers and dying logs. Lloyd didn't want to go to sleep, because once he fell asleep, time would fast-forward to morning when Kratos would leave. They were all pointedly ignoring having a conversation about Kratos' imminent departure, but they'd already run through everything else they had to talk about. Lloyd was glad Kratos had finished Spiritua's story before he had to go, but he wished he still had something to talk about.

"Hey, Dad?" Lloyd said. "You said you would check in on Rebecca and Rowan later on. Did you?"

"Yes," Kratos said. "A couple times, under Mithos' suggestion so I could keep tabs on the new Chosen."

"So they did have a child, then?" Colette asked.

Kratos nodded. "Yes, they had one daughter. Outside of that one instance, as far as I know their marriage was more like close friends who happened to be raising a child together. They both had other relationships outside of their marriage, which the rest of Tethe'alla's nobility frowned upon."

"Ha, I can imagine," Lloyd said. "What about the others? Did Shea ever find her Panacea?"

"The fact that you have a Panacea bottle in your bag right now should answer that," Kratos said. "The recipe had changed and been modified over the years, but yes, Shea was the inventor of the original Panacea four thousand years ago. After that, she and Spiritua travelled the world and healed the sick wherever they could find them. Many modern medical practices have their roots in Boltzman's teachings that Shea spread across the world."

"That's amazing," Colette said dreamily. "I bet Professor Sage would love to meet her. They could talk for hours!"

"And I want to be nowhere near that conversation if it happened," Lloyd said with a laugh. "What about Pierce? What did he do?"

"He joined the knights in Meltokio as he had planned," Kratos said. "He was able to quickly work up the ranks, and then he worked alongside Rebecca and Rowan to prepare the country for the decline. The three of them pressured the government to impose rationing years before the gradual famine even began. There were enough grain stores that famine in Tethe'alla never became quite as bad as Sylvarant. Tethe'alla's years in decline were obviously not easy, but their efforts kept it from reaching the absolute desperation that Sylvarant had faced."

"Even though I now know that I'm not descended from Rowan," Colette said, "it still makes me feel happier about being the Chosen to know that even though there have been many bad things in the world, even four thousand years ago the Chosen line was there to help. I'm proud to be part of such a long line."

"Yeah," Lloyd said. "I don't know much about all the Chosens that came in between, but I have to say I think the Chosen Lineage started out with two awesome Chosens and ended with two more awesome Chosens."

"Kratos," Colette said, "when did you learn everything that you weren't present for? It doesn't seem like there was much time to talk after you left from Triet."

"On my visits back," Kratos said. "I paid a visit to Rowan and Rebecca about ten years later, and during dinner conversations about the journey came up. When I asked about something I wasn't aware had happened, Rebecca insisted they share the entire story. At which point, Rowan looked at me and said, 'It's kind of a long story…'. It's possible some aspects of the story were not what actually happened. What you heard was my memory from four thousand years ago of their memory of ten years before that, but I believe it's close enough to the truth."

"Dad, did you ever attempt to stop a Journey of Regeneration after Spiritua's?"

Lloyd knew the answer before Kratos even spoke from the embarrassed expression that slipped across his face. Lloyd tried to hide his disappointment. He said, "Well… no. It was a couple hundred years after the first one that Mithos trusted me to accompany a Chosen again, and quite frankly that Chosen was a rather unpleasant middle-aged man who did not inspire nearly as much empathy from me. There have been so many Chosens over the years that eventually they all blur together in my mind, and I had reached a point where protesting Mithos just seemed entirely futile…" He sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't make excuses. What's done is done, and the best we can do now is look to a future without any more Journeys of Regeneration."

"It's alright, Dad," Lloyd. He'd already come to terms with Kratos' past and was willing to forgive him for the things he'd done. There was no point in dredging up the past when they had collectively decided to move forward.

Colette yawned, covering her mouth and putting her head back and then yawning so deeply she almost fell over onto her back. Kratos said, "It's quite late. We should sleep."

Lloyd would have argued, but honestly he was too tired to do so. He lay out on his blanket and stared up at the stars, trying not to think about Kratos drifting up there tomorrow night. "Goodnight, Colette," he said. "Goodnight, Dad."

"'Night, Lloyd!" Colette chirped.

From across the fire, Kratos said, "Sleep well, Lloyd."

* * *

The purple mass of mana that was Derris Kharlan drifted into the sky. Lloyd stood at the steps of what was once the Tower of Salvation and watched with a heavy heart. He knew that Kratos leaving was the right thing to do, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He hoped Mom would be ok with it.

A hand slipped into his. He looked down at Colette, who had come once Kratos was gone and their goodbyes were said. She didn't have to say anything, just squeezed his hand and leaned against his arm to let him know that even if his dad had left, he wasn't alone.

Lloyd couldn't pull his eyes away from Derris Kharlan in the distance, but he said, "I'm fine."

"I'm going to miss him, too," Colette said. "I know my connection with him isn't nearly the same as yours, but… he was one of our companions, and all of them are my friends."

"I know," Lloyd said. He took a deep breath, and looked away. "It doesn't do us any good to stand here and feel sorry for ourselves. There are lots of Exspheres that need to be collected."

Lloyd turned and put his back to Derris Kharlan. Kratos was gone, and he had to accept that. His friends had scattered and they were all doing great things with their lives all over the world. The chapter of his life where he could spend time with all of them travelling around and fighting bad guys was over, and he had to move on.

"Come on, Lloyd," Colette said, still clinging to his hand. "There's a whole new world out there that we made happen. Let's go save it."

* * *

A/N: And that's that. Thank you to everybody who read this story. I appreciate every single one of you, even if you never had time to review. I originally got the idea for and started planning the plot and characters when I was still only half-way through my previous work, _Tales of Cosplayers_, so the thought that I would some day reach the end of it never even occurred to me. It feels very bittersweet to be here, finally finished but also leaving my characters behind after all this time.

I don't have any future plans to start another fanfiction project. I have a few ideas, but they're for other fandoms and I don't think I'm going to pursue them any time soon. As sad as I am to be leaving fandom writing behind, I'm going to devote myself to working on original fiction full-time, so if all goes according to plan, the next time you see me it will be on the shelves of a bookstore. I occasionally publish original fiction on my fictionpress account, and short drabbles on my tumblr, both of which you can find on my profile.

So... I guess that's it. To both the people who have been following me since I was writing ToC and the people who only just found this story, I appreciate you all and I thank you for your support. Goodbye.


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